Height Differences
by hundaemon
Summary: One curse is not enough? Ranma's talent to attract problems caused him new trouble again. But nothing could stop him from spread choas across Nerima once again, not even his new little problem. Alternative timeline
1. Chapter: Here's Ranma

Author Notes: Before you begin to read, I'll have to bore you with the stupid jabbering of an immature author. And no I don't just want to give myself air..., innit? However, have to tell you a few things, first two warnings. First, I've never written anything before expect in school when I was forced to. This is my first fan fiction. Second, I'm not English nor Japanese. My first language was German. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I use translators to help me with my gaps in my vocabulary. I'm right now just 16 years old and am allowed to do that. Oh, and during writing, I realized my punctuation sucks. Especially the commas. Now to the circumstances under which this fic was written. I had this idea for a some time now. Just never was in the right mood to write it. A while ago, I found a fan fic with exactly this idea implemented in it. The date this fic was written was long before I got that idea. But I think I can still use it, because the author didn't claim this idea as his. If anyone is interested, the fic with the same idea (just main idea) is called 'Diminutive Ranma' written by 'Kabia-Duelist' and can be found here as well. Geez, I overdid it again, did I? Ok, I try to end here. The following passage is the disclaimer. For all who don't want to be bored by duties, just skip it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of this fan fiction. All characters and stories were created by Rumiko Takahashi. Arigatou sensei, by the way. If I would own Ranma ½, I would it return immediately to Takahashi-sama. It's HERS and no other would be worthy determine it. Also, no continuation, that isn't written by Takahashi-sama, should call itself the only true continuation of Ranma ½. Only Takahashi-sama is allowed to write the only true continuation and if she says the series are finished, then the series are finished. No offense, but 'Daigakusei no Ranma'(considered as THE continuation) is NOT written by Takahashi-sama.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. This is a manga-based fic. For all who never read the manga: you missed a lot.

A Ranma Fanfiction by

hundaemon

**Height Differences**

Version: 1.4

Chapter 1: Here's Ranma

* * *

*drip, drip*

The sky above the ward Nerima in Tokyo was dark. If it was one year in the future, the inhabitants would likely expect a demon with loud cries of "Where is my bride?" to appear, flying ships kidnapping various girls, yells of some strange posing animals followed by bright spheres flying at mad speed through the streets or a huge tornado emerge from the grounds of the near high school. Fortunately, this wasn't the case. Right now, the inhabitants of Nerima just braced themselves for the upcoming downpour with coats, umbrellas and other stuff that guaranteed to protect from an unwanted shower. No drop has fallen yet.

The sound of dripping water, however, found its cause in a not too infamous house of the little ward. Soun Tendo never suspected he'll ever be happy again, since the death of his beloved wife.

The tears of joy that now soaked a little sheet in his shaking hands, began flowing freely shortly after the postman delivered his post. Said sheet was, to be more exact, a postcard with a picture of a panda chewing bamboo leaves on its front.

Suddenly Soun cried on top of his lungs: "Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!"

Finally, it started to rain and the Nerimians were prepared for it. What they were not prepared for was the scene that played in the streets before their disbelieving eyes.

Madly running through the streets was a giant panda. Most of them had never seen a panda in nature, only in the television. But here was one, live and in flesh, obviously chasing visible prey.

Its next actions left the crowed that had formed hanging with their jaws wide open. It came to a sudden halt, pulled a street sign out of the ground with ease and threw it. The sign sailed through the streets, collided after 50 feet with a little red blur and buried its target under it. The panda, oblivious to the strange looks it received from the bystanders, bounced happily to the sign. Tossing it away, the animal picked up the little red figure.

It shifted its backpack as it continued its way through the streets in a slower pace. Cradling its booty gently in its furry paws, the bear headed right to the Tendo Dojo.

* * *

"Fiancé?"

"He was in China?"

"How old is he?"

"How does he look?"

"I hate boys!"

Soun was relieved as he heard someone approaching his home. 'Happy day! After all this time, I will see my friend Saotome-kun again. The schools will be soon joined! Oh, how long I waited for this day.' He made an attempt to stand up and greet his old friend.

Kasumi had thought hard since her father had told her and her sisters about this arranged marriage. 'It would be nice to have someone to cook for. But I don't like young men, they can be so immature. Maybe he's older than me...' Her thoughts trailed off as she heard footsteps outside. 'Oh my, they are here already,' She got up to welcome their new guests.

Nabiki contemplated silently to herself: 'Some guy from China's coming. But living on the road doesn't sound to me as if he's got much money. He's a martial artist, so he'll probably be a hunk; just hope he's not a twit like Kuno. Could likely be, though.' She shuddered at that idea. Then she heard the noise. 'That must be them,' she thought as she shot up and rushed past her dad and sisters in the hallway.

A frown accompanied Akane's thoughts as she tried to grasp what her daddy attempted to put on her and her sisters. 'I can't believe he just engaged us to a various guy he never met. What was he thinking? This one is probably just like the others. All boys are perverts! Intensive jerks, lusting after your...' She interrupted her mental rant as her sister suddenly rose from her seat next to her and dashed through the open door. She noticed as Kasumi and her daddy got up as well. Her frown turned into a growl. 'If he touches any of my sisters...'

The following shriek coming from the hallway did nothing good to her prejudices. In fury, she jumped to her feet and raced into the hall, only to stop dead in her tracks.

Filling out the corridor was a giant animal. If she wasn't so shocked, she would have jumped in front of her sisters to guard them from the dangerous bear. The sight of a panda, standing on its hind paws and carrying a rucksack on its broad back, just let her stand frozen in the hallway, gaping.

The black-white intruder on the other side didn't seem to be fazed. It lifted its paw, ignoring the flinches this movement caused and reached for its backpack. It sat the heavy item on the ground and began rummaging through it.

This was something the Tendos hadn't expected. A bit of fear disappeared and was replaced by curiosity. 'What is this? A trained pet?'

Apparently the panda had found what it was looking for. It now held something in front of it and motioned to the Tendos. They just continued staring but their attention was now caught by the figure dangling from the panda's paw. Fear forgotten, they all stepped forward to take a closer look.

It had a human shape, head, arms, legs and all. It seemed to be a female doll, 5 inches tall with a little red Chinese shirt and black kung fu pants, a cute looking face and red hair, braided in a pigtail.

'What does this panda want us to do us with this doll? A gift, maybe?' Akane couldn't think of a solution as her eyes fell on the face of the redhead. 'Something isn't right,' she thought. The doll seemed to hold her gaze and glare right back at her. The contact only hold for an eye blink but long enough to give Akane an unsettling feeling. These blue eyes of the doll seemed so...alive.

Suddenly the 'doll' began to move. It punched and kicked as if to free itself. Then a soprano voice screamed, "Why you! Leggo y'ol' fool! Hey! Yo! You're scaring 'em spitless! An' what's the big idea, stuffin' me in ya backpack like that?"

The panda just growled in response and again waved the little red figure in front of the Tendos.

They, on the other hand, tried to get back under control. But all they could do was lean closer to the little girl and convince themselves that she was real and not just imagination.

She slowly got tired of the fruitless struggling and turned her attention to the staring Tendos. And shrieked in surprise. She hadn't realized just how close they, during her attempt to free herself, had gotten. She gulped and opened her mouth to speak.

"Do you know where Ranma...?" A meteor could have trashed the Tendo residence and Soun Tendo wouldn't have forgotten his future-son-in-law was supposed to arrive.

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."

Silence.

Then Mr. Tendo fainted.

The three Tendo girls ignored their father's breakdown and continued gaping with their jaws so wide open that Ranma was sure she would have found enough space in them to fit her whole body.

"B...but you're a girl!" Nabiki blurted out. It was a rare sight to see Nabiki totally confused.

"And...you...what are you?"

Ranma bit her lip. She hated it to explain her condition. It was a waste of time anyway, when her audience hadn't overcome its surprise yet. So, first things first. She kicked again, this time hitting the paw that held her up by the shirt, hard. Very hard. The panda yowled in pain and let the redhead drop to the ground.

Akane snapped out of her daze. Sure, she was overwhelmed by their new guest's appearance, but as she saw the diminutive girl fall, her self control returned. Maybe the fact that her supposed fiancé was not a boy did help too.

"Watch out!" she cried. The panda had held the girl 4 feet above the floor. For a normal grown human, a fall like this would cause no serious damage but for someone as little as Ranma, it was fall of almost 25 feet. Not something she would ever want to happen to her.

Akane had to act fast. She dropped to the ground and shot her hand forward to catch the falling girl inches before she would have connected with the hard wooden floor. She blew out a sigh of relief and turned her gaze at the face of the girl in her fist, surprised not to find a trace of fear.

It was now Ranma's turn to be confused as she noted the warm fingers holding her. 'Why did she catch me? I handle falls like this all the time.' The grip lightened around her and she lifted her head to study her rescuer's face.

The dark haired girl flashed a shy smile to the little redhead and asked in a tiny voice, "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah... T-thanks, I guess," she stuttered, bemused, and returned the timid smile utterly puzzled.

Ranma had never experienced something like this. Shortly after she had gotten this goddamn body, nobody had ever been gentle to her. She hated to be picked up by the back of her shirt or be held rough in someone's fist. All the people she had met had always treated her like some fancy doll. Most of the time she was grabbed by curious strangers, the same comments over and over again: "Hey, how does this work? What an awesome trick! Never realized our technology is that advanced." The last one made no sense to Ranma, though. Now Ranma could avoid these situations. She had trained hard to be able to fight in such a pathetic form as she was now. At the beginning though, it was hell.

But this girl had caught her softly, almost carefully, not to hurt her. Her grip around her was neither firm nor rude. Ranma figured she could break it with ease, but this was the fact that stopped her from doing so.

Akane became suddenly aware of the girl's expression. Her face was unreadable. Realizing that it must be raw to be held like this, she gently sat the redhead on her feet on the floor and hastily got up, breaking the intensive eye contact.

Nabiki could only blink and Kasumi said the first thing that came to her mind (AN: guess what?)

"Oh my..."

* * *

Soun opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He had had a strange dream about a panda and a moving doll that claimed to be Ranma Saotome, the son of his old friend and training partner. His tears were silently trickling down his cheeks as he tried to forget this unsettling imagination. He lay in a futon set up in the dining room. Next to him sat his three daughters, a little red figure and behind them a giant black-white bear. He closed his eyes and tried to cope with his misery.

Nabiki had finally enough. "Some fiancé that is. 'He' is a girl!" she snapped at her dad.

"Genma said he had a son..."

"Does this look like a boy to you?" she interrupted and lifted Ranma by the back of her shirt from the ground, where she had sat with her head bowed. Pointing with one finger at Ranma's little, but for her size rather busty chest, she waved her in front of Soun's face.

Ranma got angrier with every passing second. Still held by Nabiki, she screamed in protest, "Hey, what d'ya think ya doin'? Only 'cause ya one size larger doesn't give ya the right to toss me 'round." Her complaints, however, met the deaf ears of Nabiki, who was too busy cursing her father.

Akane snatched the redhead out of her sister's hand and sat her, yet again, gently on her feet; this time giving her a warm and more confident smile. "He... She is right, Nabiki. Is that how to treat a guest?" She shot her sister a nasty glare and turned back to the pipsqueak.

"Hi, I'm Akane. Wanna be friends?"

The redhead, still dizzy from the rude movements, needed a little while to let the other girl's words sink in. She raised her head to receive the welcoming smile Akane offered and dropped it in instant, blushing brightly. She hesitated briefly, then gave a shy nod.

Akane's smile grew even bigger as she saw the girl's approval. "You do kempo, don't you? Wanna see our dojo?"

Ranmas mood lifted considerably. 'An own dojo? Must be great to have one just for oneself.' She found her speech again and responded, "I'd really like ta."

The taller girl jumped to her feet. "Great. Just follow me, I'll show you the way," she replied and turned to the door. As she was halfway through it, she seemed to remember something and faced the dining room again. She crossed the distance between Ranma and her and kneeled down in front of the little girl.

"Mind if I give you a lift? It would be much quicker."

Ranma was given a lift more often than she could actually count, but all of them had one thing in common: they were all unwanted. Nobody had ever asked for her permission, her latest experience with the brown haired girl still clear in her mind. So, Akane's question caught her off guard. As always, her mouth acted faster than her brain.

"Uhhh...o-okay."

At that, the taller girl laid her hand on the ground, palm facing the ceiling. She watched Ranma carefully nearing her hand, as if it would suddenly grab her by the back of her shirt again.

"C'mon, I won't bite," Akane encouraged the petite redhead. After another brief bout of hesitance, she finally sat on the hand, which was almost as big as herself, and waited for Akane to rise.

The dark haired girl got up and walked out the door to the backyard. She was surprised by Ranma's weight. The little girl sure was heavier than she looked.

They reached the dojo and Ranma peered, curious, from her comfortable spot on Akane's hand to get a better look. For every normal grown person, it was a rather little one, but for her it was huge. Just now she realized how badly she needed to workout. Her last one had been in the morning with her pop. 'Too long,' she decided and jumped from the hand.

Akane gasped as she felt the weight of her new friend lifted from her hand. This time she would not be fast enough to catch her in time. 'If she hit the ground from this height, she'd probably get several broken bones, maybe worse.' Looking down in fear, she saw what the redhead had just done and all her concern turned into amazement.

The petite girl had just performed a couple of flips until she landed slightly on the tips of her feet, unfazed by the height she'd fallen.

Failing to hear any movements from the girl behind her, Ranma turned back to Akane, who gave her a funny look.

"Um 'Kane? Something wrong?"

The other girl blinked a few times, then answered, "I-I'm fine. How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Ranma had to strain her neck to look up to the taller girl.

Akane noticed this and crouched down in a kneeling position. Then she continued, " I don't think I could have handled a fall like that if I was your size."

"Well, if you got a body like this, ya hafta know how to handle heights like that, dontcha think? That was just a li'l hop."

"If you say so." Akane stopped and re-imagined the distance from her hand to the ground. Ranma called that a little hop? Turning her attention back to the redhead, she asked, "How did you end up like this, anyway?"

"Kinda hard ta explain. It's a long story."

"Care to tell? We have enough time right now." And to underline her words, she laid down on her stomach, her head resting on the backs of her hands. She really wondered what a person had to do to gain a condition like Ranma's.

Ranma sighed and sat down in the lotus position. She closed her eyes and started her tale.

_Flashback_

_A redheaded girl and a panda followed a Chinese man with bowed heads and their hands/paws clutching their stomachs. The man in green babbled something about the village they were approaching, but his companions were too hungry to listen._

_As they arrived__,__ the guide spoke in broken Japanese__, __" You very lucky, honored guests. Today is rare tournament of amazons. Great honor for outsider watch it."_

_But the girl__'__s and bear__'__s attention was already drawn by the table with the remarkable amount of foo__d__ on it. Like starving animals (the panda even __was __one), they thr__e__w themselves at the food and began to eat __at__ a rate that could __only __be described as vacuuming._

_A purple haired girl, that just had sen__t__ her last enemy flying, jumped in front of the intruding redhead and s__wip__ed at her with one of her bonboris._

_Ranma simply dodged by hopping on the bonbori and continued munching her m__outhful__. The Amazon snapped something in Chinese and tried to free her weapon. Failing __to__ succe__ed__, she snarled again in mandarin. _

_The guide had overcome his surprise and began to translate the amazons words__.__ "Sirs, this food for winner of tournament. She won tournament, you eat prize."_

"_Uhh...sorry?" Ranma tried__,__ irritated. Then an idea popped in her mind. "If I beat her, the pri__z__e __would __belong to me, wouldn't it?"_

"_Theoretical__ly__ yes, but..."_

"_All right, then. Bring it on!" she cheered__,__ and jumped on the trunk where the tournament had taken place minutes ago._

_Apparently, the purple haired girl underst__ood__ Ranma__'__s challenge and jumped up as well. __Now __facing the outsider, her bonboris were raised, ready to strike. Then she advanced __upon __her enemy._

_Ranma, who had now judged her skill, decided to end this quickly. She dodged the upcoming strike and sen__t__ the other girl flying from the trunk__ with a spinning kick._

_The public gasped. This girl just had beaten one of __their__ best warriors in __the__ blink of an eye._

_The mumbling died down as a 3 f__oo__t tall figure, hopping on a staff__,__ approached the redhead._

_On the way back to her rightful, and not to forget yummy prize, she saw the old woman. She shrieked and jumped back in disgust. She looked like a living mummy, glaring angrily at her._

"_Do you have any idea what you __have __just done, girl?" the old __woman __snarled in perfect Japanese. She continued, not giving the pigtailed girl a chance to answer. "We're a tribe of strong warriors. Not once in __our__ 3000 year old amazon history __has __a female ever defeated an amazon in fair combat."_

"_Well, since today then__,__" Ranma interrupted._

_The old woman ignored her interjection and went on__,__ "This action will not be left unpunished."_

_Ranma chuckled. "And what could an old ghoul like you possibly do?"__she replied with a cocky grin._

_The expression o__n__ the woman__'__s face turned angry__.__ "Show respect to your elders, girl." Then her original cruel smile c__a__me back. "This__!__"_

_Before Ranma could even blink, the woman appeared right in front of her. She tossed something at the girl so fast that the pigtailed girl only could raise her hands in defense, not able to doge the incoming projectile. "A bottle?" Ranma wondered as she felt it shattering on her arms, driving shards deep in her __skin__. That wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the conte__n__ts of the bottle._

_As the orange powder contacted with her wounds, pain exploded first in her arms, seconds later in her entire body. She felt like she was set on fire and her flesh melting, some parts of it evaporat__ing__. She sank to the ground screaming in pain as darkness claimed her. The last thing she could make out before she fainted was the irritated face of the old woman over her._

_End of Flashback_

"I woke up and was like this." She pointed at herself.

"How did you get out of the village?" Akane asked, her face showing a mask of horror.

"Pop rescued me."

"The guy in the green uniform was your father?"

"Nah, that was just a guide. The panda, remember?"

Akane was now totally confused but decided to let this comment slip. Maybe that was just teasing. If Ranma, with her surreal size, wasn't sitting right in front of her, she would have declared the teller of this story insane. She still couldn't imagine that there are amazons in China. But she had no better explanation for the pipsqueak's condition.

"Now I certainly never want to go to China," she joked, trying to lighten up the mood.

At that, the pipsqueak coughed. "Definitely not," she muttered under her breath, as if that was not the only thing that had happened.

'Some private joke maybe?' Akane wondered silently to herself.

Meanwhile, Ranma couldn't hold herself any longer. She had spent another half an hour sitting unmoving on the floor. She was in a dojo for crying loud out. So, she got to her feet and walked into the middle of the huge dojo, away from the lying girl, who stared into the distance, and began one of her easier katas.

Akane drifted back to reality only to find the spot where her friend was supposed to sit, empty. She lifted her head and looked around the dojo. In the center of it she found her, doing a kata. She sat up in a more comfortable position and watched in amazement.

The redhead punched and kicked at her invisible enemies, leaping and flipping while doing so. She flowed from one stance to another, without the slightest hesitation. The speed in which she moved, Akane had held for inhuman; so fast that one had a hard time even following her graceful motions. But the most breathtaking was the fact that her jumps sometimes reached the height of Akane's waist or even higher while throwing complex series of kicks and punches.

'T-this is unbelievable! She's truly a master of the Art.'

Ranma finished her kata. Akane clapped her hands together a few times and cheered, "Wow, that was amazing. If you'd have been normal size, you'd probably wipe the floor with me in seconds."

"Oh yeah? Only if?" she chuckled, not even breathing hard.

"I'm just glad you're not a boy."

"W-what?!"

"I would hate to know I would lose to a boy." With that, Akane left the dojo and a shuddering little girl.

* * *

Nabiki tried to sort out her thoughts as she walked down the hallway. "Our new guests are really... interesting. I wonder how I can make money out of this..."

She paused. In the dining room, a bald man wearing a white bandanna, a dirty gi and glasses sat facing her dad. Both of them were crying silently and staring at each other.

Nabiki continued on her way and walked into the kitchen. "Kasumi, who is that other man in our dining room?" she asked her older sister.

Kasumi looked briefly up from her cooking and replied, "I don't know, Nabiki-chan."

* * *

Ranma had found her way back to the house and now sat between the two sliding doors that connected the house with the backyard. Her feet hung over the edge in the air, too short to reach the grass underneath, and she watched the fishes in the pond, which sometimes disturbed the smooth surface.

As she heard, or rather felt, footsteps approaching, she shot to her feet and slipped into a loose battle stance, looking straight up.

"Oh, exuse me, I didn't intend to startle you." The oldest Tendo girl wore an apologetic expression on her face, caused by the sudden movement of the little girl. "I was wondering if you would like to take a bath?"

Ranma dropped her stance, embarrassed. She wasn't used to being treated human anymore, since the incident in China. "No! I mean it's okay..." She was interrupted by Kasumi.

"No, it isn't. You must be all dirty from your journey. I insist." She handed the redhead a little scrap that seemed to be cut out of a big towel. "Do you need help to get to the bath?"

"I'll manage on my own, thanks."

"But the furo is..."

"No prob, really!" And with that she ran off. Rounding the corner, she slid the bath door open without effort.

* * *

The pigtailed pipsqueak stood on the edge of the furo. Just as she wanted to jump in the hot water, the door opened and revealed Akane, holding only a towel in front of her otherwise naked body. She looked around, spotted Ranma and walked over to her.

She, on the other hand, turned startled to the upcoming girl. Noticing Akane's condition, she shrieked and covered her eyes.

Akane sat down and raised a bucket with cold water over her head.

"K-k-kane, y-you shouldn't..."

"What's the matter, Ranma? Something wrong?" Apparently Ranma was extremely shy. A smile crept on her face. She decided to clean up later and first tease her new friend a little bit. She got up, closed the distance to the furo and climbed in. Laying down, she noticed her friends odd behavior: hands covering her face.

"Please, this isn't right," Ranma whined again.

The dark haired girl giggled in response. "What's not right? We're both girls, no need to be shy."

The little girl winced at that. "But that's exactly the pro...oh...ah...ah...ah...WHAA!" During her stuttering, the other girl had poked her in the forehead. She lost her balance and fell back.

*SPLASH*

Akane tried to stifle her laughter, but did a poor job. 'Ranma really 'is' shy.' She wiped a few tears as a result from her outburst away and opened her eyes to scan the surface of the water for the pipsqueak. The fog disturbed her sight, she could make her out on the other side of the furo, though. She was facing away from her, her hands still covering her eyes.

"'Kane, please just leave."

Her whimpers made the taller girl pause. Somehow the voice had changed. It wasn't the soprano squeak anymore. Several octaves deeper, still with the same wail in it.

Akane took a closer look at the pigtailed figure and gasped. Ranma's features had changed completely. Her hair was not red, rather jet-black. Her arms had become more muscular, her shoulders broader and her chest had flattened.

Instead of a tiny girl swimming on the other side of the furo and covering her face, there was now a tiny boy swimming on the other side of the furo and covering his face.

Then it hit Akane with full force: A 'boy' was sitting with her in the same furo, both of them stark naked.

Akane screamed in surprise and hopped out of the water. Quickly crossing the the distance to it, she slid the door violently open and slammed it shut behind her.

"..."

In the hallway, Kasumi found a totally distraught Akane around the corner, almost knocking her off her feet as she rushed by.

"Akane-chan, what...?" Her youngest sister's mumbling made her shut up.

"Pervert...she...he...pervert..."

Nabiki heard Akane's jabbering and joined the two girls in the hallway.

"Calm down, Akane-chan." Kasumi tried to comfort her.

Akane just continued to babble disjointed words when she suddenly stopped, interrupted by the light tug she had felt on the left leg of her gi. She dropped her gaze to the ground. Her sisters did as well.

There, in front of their feet, stood an almost 6 inches tall boy with slightly damp and jet black hair, tied back in a braided pigtail. He wore the same clothes Ranma had worn, only that they seem to fit this boy better than her.

He looked up to them and opened his mouth.

"Who...?" came from the two older Tendo girls but Akane remained silent. She already knew 'who'.

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."

* * *

Author Notes: This was the first chapter, I hope you liked it. If you find any grammar or formal mistakes please tell me. Suggestions are also welcome, I appreciate all the help I can get. For the reviews, please be gentle, It is my firs fic. And if you don't understand some words not explained, ask.  
Handwritten, this chapter has almost exactly 16 DinA4 pages (without author notes), as .odt only 12 (with author notes). File size: 38 KB.  
The second chapter is already written but not typed yet.  
Like in this chapter, I probably won't copy the chapters. I try to give each chapter familiar lengths. I try!

Proudly beta'd by FantomoDrako.


	2. Chapter: Some Little Problems

Author Notes: Here we go, the second chapter. This one is beta'd already, so only my narrative style and wording will disturb^^. It's a little bit shorter than the first one, but that's caused by something I omitted, because all of you know inside out. Please don't take any of my comments personal ;P. Oh, and no more translations or even various Japanese words. I didn't like it in the first chapter either, so I removed it there, too.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. All characters are © 1987,1996 by Takahashi Rumiko.

Publishing rights:

Japan: Shogakukan Inc. Tokyo

Hong Kong: Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.

North America: Viz Inc.

Based on Takahashi Rumiko's manga series, Ranma 1/2

A Ranma Fanfiction by

hundaemon

**Hight Differences**

Version: 1.3

Chapter 2: Some little problems

* * *

The sun had set and the night had announced its arrival with several cool breezes. Tokyo was now an ocean of lights. Nowadays, the ward Nerima was considered as a calm quarter of the town. Only the weird rumors of a certain high school disturbed the reputation. Except for them, Nerima was indeed peaceful.

So was the Tendo's home. Usually. The scene that could be watched right now was a little awkward, though. A bald man with a white bandanna and a dirty gi kneeled in front of the Tendo family. Soun Tendo sat in front of the table while his daughters had each taken a place behind it. Their attention, however, was just partway directed at the bald man. On his left side kneeled a little boy, head bowed and his tiny fist clenched.

Soun broke the silence as he motioned to the other man. "This is my old friend..."

"Genma Saotome," he introduced himself. "And my son..."

"Ranma Saotome." The boy looked up briefly as he spoke, but dropped his gaze once he found the girls staring at him.

Akane remained quiet, an angry expression on her face, but her sisters blurted out in confusion.

"What's going on here?"

"Well, the size fits, though...are you really her? The same little girl?"

Genma's expression became thoughtful as he laid a finger on his forehead and sighed. "Hmm, how can I explain...I know!"

With that, he grabbed his son by the back of his shirt and threw him out into the darkness right into the pond. With a little splash, like a stone would have made, Ranma broke the surface of the water. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. Then there was a movement. A spluttering redhead came into view. She climbed on one of the stones that surrounded the pond and remained on her hands and knees, coughing. She found her breath yet again and raised her head to glare at a certain man.

"What didya do that for? You wanted to drown me or what?" she cried in a soprano voice.

Nabiki raised her eyebrows slightly and Kasumi stated, "Now he's a girl."

Genma began to weep and cried, "Ohhhh, my own son. So humiliating. So humiliating!"

Suddenly said 'son' appeared by his side and grabbed one of Genma's fingers. "Who are you to talk?" And with that she tossed the fat man by the finger and threw him over her head into the backyard. His destination was the same where his son had landed seconds ago: the pond. She huffed in annoyance.

The Tendos watched the pipsqueak jump on the grass and walk over to the panda that had emerged in the pond. Had they just witnessed a 5 inch little girl throwing a man 10 feet through the air, more above 10-times bigger and heavier than herself?

Kasumi finally shook off her amazement and turned to her father, "Father? Why are you friends with them?"

"They weren't like this all the time," Soun replied in a sad voice. "Not until they traveled to China..."

While Soun told his friend's tale, he and his son disappeared in order to take a bath and change back. At the end of the story, all of the Tendo girls had a doubting countenance on their faces. The Saotomes reentered the room. Genma carried his fuming son by the back of his shirt and kneeled down in front of the Tendos again, putting Ranma on the ground next to him. The angry boy shot a nasty glare at his father.

Finally Soun spoke up, "The legendary training ground 'the pools of sorrow'...its true horror has always been shrouded in mystery, but now..."

"Feh!" snapped Ranma from the floor where he was kneeling. A blue glow was slowly forming around him. "Whaddya mean 'true horror'?" The anger that emitted from the little boy filled out the whole room. Just thinking about the past made Ranma boil with rage. It was all his father's fault.

"Yo, old man..." He jumped up, grabbed Genma's gi by its collar, and brought the older man's face to his eye level. His father struggled to free himself out of Ranma's iron grip, but couldn't move. Now face to face with his son, Genma winced. Over the years Genma had learned one thing about his son: Never piss him completely off. It wouldn't do your health well. Since the age of 13, Ranma had caught up with him and now he could overpower him easily. He also suspected that during their workouts the boy held much more back than he showed. Maybe Ranma didn't know, but Genma was having a hard time even keeping up with the level his son was fighting at. The fact that he was just 6 inches tall didn't matter either, he still was tossed around by him like the boy wanted to. The only advantages that Genma gained from Ranma's shrunken body were its lack in weight and range. Sometimes, when his son didn't pay attention, he could grab him by the back of his shirt and lift him off the ground. Well, only when he was off guard. Now, however, Ranma wasn't. He had added ki to his weight and it was now impossible for Genma to even move an inch while his son stood with both feet solidly on the floor. One hand was still holding the gi's collar, forcing his father to look at the enraged pigtailed boy.

"...what was the big idea draggin' me to a place like that, anyway?"

Genma had already wondered himself how long he would stay dry since he was dragged down by the boy's strength. He felt the chill draft again as he sailed through the air and into the pond a second time.

A panda surfaced and jumped out of the pond. It threw a paw strike at its son, which he sidestepped, but sent enough water from the wet fur onto him to trigger the change. The giant animal grunted and held up a wooden sign with words in a sloppy handwriting on it. You sound like a girl. Weren't you ready to sacrifice *flip* your life for the sake of the art?

"My life, yes..." the redhead answered. "But my manhood and body is another story!" she finished, and leapt up to deliver a powerful punch on the panda's nose, sending it sprawling on the floor. They continued their squabbling, Ranma jumping and flipping between the paw strikes while the bear just sat on the ground, delivering blow after blow.

"What a tragedy," Soun wailed, waterworks back in place.

"Stop it, you two!" Not much could anger the oldest Tendo girl, but she couldn't imagine how stupid someone had to be to get his own son and himself cursed to change into a girl and a panda. She was now next to the panda, which held the little girl by the collar of her shirt a few feet above the ground.

"You really have gone too far, Mr. Saotome."

"Yeah!" Nabiki interjected. "Even for martial arts training."

Kasumi came face to face with the sweating panda. "Why did you do something so dangerous?"

A thin book chose this moment to fell out of the white-black fur. It seemed to be a guide book about famous training grounds of China. The oldest girl picked it up and opened it. The first picture showed a valley with lots of springs and several bamboo poles sticking out of them.

"It's written in Chinese," Nabiki remarked. "You can't read Chinese, can you?"

The panda dropped the pseudo-girl and held up a new sign: Correct.

The redhead bounced off the ground and leaped back up to bonk her stupid father on the head.

"Well, that explains your...curses..." Nabiki began. She looked down to Ranma. "But what about her...his...whatever, size?"

The attention turned back to the pipsqueak. All of the Tendos were waiting for an explanation. The story of the cursed springs in China had been awkward enough, at least now they were prepared for another extraordinary tale. Almost all. Akane had already heard the reason for her guest's odd condition an hour ago in the dojo first hand.

Since she found out that Ranma was a boy, she had no idea what to think of him. 'All boys are perverts, right? Especially with this curse he must be one.' She thought back to her involuntary bath with him and growled. In her anger she had failed to remember that he hadn't even tried to peep at her. 'Definitely a pervert.' But then, how come he had been so nice when the two of them were alone in the dojo? This little girl had behaved...well, normal. As normal as someone with her problem could behave. A boy would have tried to take advantage of her or stare at her chest while talking to her. This Ranma contradicted all her rules of what a boy was. Maybe he had done nothing because he had been afraid of her. Understandable, when even an ordinary baby was two times bigger than you.

Her thoughts halted when Ranma came to the point of her story were she had fainted in the amazon village, but didn't stop like she had done the first time. Akane decided to listen further, since she didn't know what had happened afterwards.

"...was like this." The redhead paused to lick her dry lips. "I was very weak back then. Even a single grain of rice was too heavy for me to lift. Pop an' me didn't know what this powder was supposed to do exactly. We traveled from village to village an' tried to find cures for both our curses an' my condition." Ranma swallowed and continued. "Finally we found an old guy who had studied Chinese magic for ages. He told us that he knew all of the potions and powders, but assured us that there were none that changed the size of the original body. All sorts of transformations were possible an' all of them had triggers and cures just like the Jusenkyo-hot-cold-water story. When I mentioned the orange powder, he hurried into his house and came back seconds later with exactly the same bottle that old ghoul had thrown at me. He said the effect of this one was to only decrease the strength of its victim by contact with the skin, not its size. He suspected that it had had this 'side effect' 'cause it also got mixed up with my blood. He did know a cure for the weakening powder, but wasn't sure if he could fix my body. I had to stay, so that he could research the...um...'the powder's reaction on human body fluids' were his exact words I think...Anyway, after two weeks and some really weird tests he put me through, he still hadn't figured out how to reverse my little problem." She smirked meekly at her own joke, "an' as thanks for the long time I'd let him experiment with me, he gave me the cure for the weakening powder so I regained my strength. An' before you ask, no, it's not limited by this body. I'm as strong as I'd been in my regular size. Probably 'cause this body's not real, just a magical illusion." She frowned. "Unfortunately, a really good one."

"Why didn't you tell the guy about your Jusenkyo-curses? If he knew Chinese m-magic, then he could have known about Jusenkyo," said Nabiki.

"Of course we told him about that! We even asked for water from the Spring of the Drowned Man, but he just said something 'bout natural an' unnatural, or rather forced magic. Every forced magic, like the powder, has a cure. A natural magic, however, hasn't."

"And Jusenkyo is natural magic?"

"If not, I would be a guy right now," Ranma growled.

Again an awkward silence followed. Then Soun cleared his throat. The engagement had just come back to his mind. Now he knew that Ranma really was a boy, there would be no problems and the schools could still be joined. As soon as he got the mentioned cure, that is. Genma told him that he believed that the chances of that Chinese man finding a cure were very good (Soun wasn't sure if his old friend lied to him about that one since he seemed to enjoy the thought of a place to stay for free). The water based curse, however, was no problem as long as Ranma was a boy half the time. Even if the cure was the most important aim, it was also necessary to persuade at least one of his daughters to agree with the marriage when the boy regained his normal body.

"Now, son." He raised his hand in order to clap it on Ranma's shoulder, but couldn't find enough space to do so. He dropped his hand, hoping nobody noticed his error, and spoke up again, "Your problems aren't that bad."

"What?!" all four girls asked in unison, bewildered.

Soun ignored them and motioned to the tallest Tendo girl with long brown hair, bound into a ponytail.

"This is Kasumi, my oldest daughter. She's nineteen."

Next was the girl with brown shoulder-length hair. "My second daughter, Nabiki. She's seventeen."

He pointed at the last girl. "And you already know Akane. She's sixteen. Pick one of them to be your fiancée."

Before Ranma could even open her mouth to protest, Kasumi suggested, "Oh, he wants Akane."

"Um...what?!" was the dark-haired girl's intelligent reply.

"Of course." Nabiki followed Kasumi's lead. "Well, you always say how much you hate boys, right?"

"You're lucky then. He's half girl," finished the oldest.

For a moment, Akane was speechless. Then she got angry and reacted on autopilot whenever she thought about a boy, "Me? Marrying this little pervert? Never!"

As the redhead heard that comment, she flinched back. She had sometimes been called a pervert whenever somebody had witnessed him change as he still had been his original size. But she had counted Akane as her friend. Feeling betrayed, she stood up. Not that anyone really noticed. Her voice, however, caught the others attention.

"What do you mean by pervert?"

"You were with me in the furo," Akane shot back.

Ranma winced once more. Was that really the same Akane that had asked to be friends with her? "You were the one who walked in on me and pushed me in the hot water."

"Oh yeah? You could have told me!"

"I tried, but you didn't let..."

"The two are already the perfect couple." Soun poked Genma in the ribs and both men laughed.

Akane shot a nasty glare at her father. "He's a pair by himself." She looked back down to the pipsqueak at her feet and threatened, "And if you ever..."

"Aww, screw it," Ranma interrupted rudely and turned on her heels, attempting to walk out of the room.

It was now Akane's turn to jump to her feet. From her, the movement was much more impressive than it had been from Ranma. "Hey, get back here, I'm not finished yet."

The little girl stopped, facing away from the raging girl. Forcing her tears back, she whispered softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear, "An' I thought you were my friend." She turned around and raised her head to stare intensely into Akane's hazel-brown eyes. She regained control over her emotions and continued, "An' even if I had seen you naked, so what?" Her voice became strong again. "I know how a girl's body looks, I mean, I've seen myself in the mirror often enough, right?" Ranma faced away from Akane once again and folded her hands behind her head. "An' besides, I'm sure I'm even better built than you anyway, so..."

That had done it. Akane grabbed the first thing in her range, in this case the table, and slammed it upside the pipsqueak's head.

"He had that one coming," Genma stated.

* * *

He woke up. Everything around was white and soft. He lay on his stomach, breasts pressed between him and the white covers. Breasts? He was a she again. Propping up on her elbows, she studied the area around her. Apparently she was on a giant futon. Actually it was a normal one, but way too over-sized for her.

"Oh, she's awake," a kind voice stated from her left.

'Where am I?' Ranma questioned herself. Suddenly pain shot through her head and with it, her memories came back, too. She groaned. 'That table sure was heavy.'

"Please don't think too badly of Akane," the soft voice continued, which Ranma had identified as Kasumi's. "She is a really nice girl, but a violent tomboy."

"That makes sense," a second voice replied sarcastically.

The redhead lifted her head high enough to look over the creases and saw the two elder girls kneeling next to her futon. She nodded, not exactly knowing why, while getting up to her feet. Holding her head, she made an attempt to leave the comfortable bed but was stopped by a giant hand. It pushed her back in a laying position on the futon.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to walk around right now. Sleep will do your headache well."

If Ranma wanted to, she could easily escape the tall girl's hold. 'Wanted' was the key word. There were two kinds of women. Most of them were weak, needed to be protected not injured. They did seem to succeed in that without his help, often enough. It was also a martial artist's duty to protect the weak, including them. The other sort he mostly met on his journey, however, weren't that weak, and as long as he was sure they could take what he dished out, he was sometimes forced to fight them; the best proof of this had been Shampoo. But the two girls in front of him showed no skills in the art. So literally, Kasumi had complete control over her.

"Okay, okay, just lemme change first then I'll rest," Ranma gave in.

"Of course. This is the guest room, so your clothes are already here."

"Clothes? I only need to go to the bath," Ranma replied, irritated.

"But you said you need to change, therefore..." Kasumi tried to explain.

Suddenly it clicked in the pipsqueak's head. "Oh...Ohhh, that's what you meant. No, I mean to 'change forms' not clothes. I'm way more comfortable with my true form."

Kasumi blinked a few times, but understood seconds later as well. "Okay, but promise me to come back right after your bath to lay down again," Kasumi said in a tone that didn't tolerate objection.

"Yes, Kasumi." 'Geez, this girl is worse than I had imagined a mother would be.'

Awkward silences seemed to come up more often since Ranma had arrived. One arose as they finished their dialog. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Nabiki, who was until now completely left out of the other girls conversation, cleared her throat. "Maybe Ranma could get up if she was able to..." she trailed and her gaze fell on Kasumi's hand that still kept the little girl on the futon.

The older girl realized what she was doing and drew her hand quickly back, blushing in embarrassment. "I'm really sorry, Ranma, I shouldn't have..."

"Hey, it's alright. No harm done, really." Loud babbling definitely did her head no good. She jumped from her futon and used the small space between the two Tendo girls to reach the door, sliding it open as if it was nothing. Remembering something, the redhead turned back, "And Nabiki..." who was surprised by the direct address, "...I am a guy, got it?" Then Ranma left.

The short-haired girl blinked a few times, then faced her sister who only shrugged and said, "Did you call him 'she'?"

* * *

Ranma left the bathroom and headed back to the guest room to keep her promise and take a little nap. He had been lucky. There was still a little puddle of warm water left in the furo, enough for him to trigger the change. On his way back, he tried to understand why Akane had acted so strange earlier in the dining room.

* * *

Behind the door with a wooden duck, on which were five certain Latin letters were written, Akane sat at her desk, doing her homework. Even if they had guests, schoolwork had priority. She leaned back, stretching and letting out a delightful yawn. 'Finally.' Then she remembered that she hadn't cleaned up yet. Laying in the furo alone is not enough. So, she stood up and left her room.

* * *

He rounded a corner and bumped into something, nearly making him lose his balance. Ranma caught himself and looked up. Right in front of him was a giant leg, whose owner he heard yell in surprise. The little boy took a few steps back to get a better look at the person in front of him. It was Akane.

"Oh, it's you..." Ranma said carelessly, and made an attempt to round his obstacle, but was stopped as he was nearly knocked off his feet again. She had moved in his way.

Akane was angry with him. The insult from earlier still sounded in her head and it didn't help that he was a boy again. "What do you mean, 'it's me'? Have a problem with that? I live here, so I'm allowed to walk around."

The pigtailed boy didn't like Akane's aggressive tone. "But maybe you could look where ya goin'. Those big tampers of yours are dangerous, you know?"

"Oh yeah? Care to test? We can arrange that." 'How dare this dwarf?' And gave her threat more force by lifting her right foot and letting it rest one foot above the little boy's head.

Oblivious to the danger he was in, Ranma replied, "Take advantage of my size, will ya? Feh, but I expected nothing different from a giant tomboy like you!"

"You little jerk!" And with that her foot fell down, slamming the pipsqueak on the floor. The breath was knocked out of him. People had stepped on him before, but never with so much force.

Akane shifted her whole body weight to her right foot, letting the boy wince in pain, and continued on her way to the bathroom. Before she rounded the corner, she turned back to Ranma, who laid on the ground, sprawled and gasping for breath. "And don't you dare peek, you pervert!" the taller girl raged and disappeared.

Ranma could hear the bathroom door violently slide shut.

"Kawaikunee..." he muttered under his breath as she was out of earshot. He picked himself up off the floor and attempted to walk back to the guest room. Limping to his destination, he heard a gasp above him, "Oh my, what happened?"

"Akane happened," Ranma grumbled.

Genma chose exactly this moment to show up. He had heard his son's mumbling and mused, "So she's got spunk. That just makes a fiancée cuter." He picked the little boy up by the back of his shirt and sat him on his shoulder. Normally Ranma would have protested, but right now he didn't mind the lift.

"Cute is not the word."

* * *

Author Notes: This was the second chapter (why do all authors say this at the end of their stories? I mean, you all know, anyway). Suggestions are welcome anew. I think I won't keep the chapter order like it is in the manga. So far it's almost the same, but Ranma's condition will have it's effect on some relationships. If you don't like where the story is heading, don't read on, you can't change it anyway. Ranma/Akane 4ever (probably not as lovers, just friendship).

The third chapter is not typed yet.

Proudly beta'd by FantomoDrako! Need a beta? Check out my beta profile if you like. (Yes, I'm shamelessly plugging. Sorry hundaemon!)

(plug as much as you want. How else to get known, if you don't tout?)


	3. Chapter: Weird Boy meets weird School

Author Notes: Since the second chapter was a little short, here's a longer one. Some of you wondered, why Soun still thinks Ranma is capable of being a heir. I've changed the second chapter a bit, there's a explanation now. A Ranma/Akane-pairing would be awkward in his condition, I rather aim for a good friendship, though.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. All characters are © 1987,1996 by Takahashi Rumiko.

Version: 1.4

Chapter 3: Weird boy meets weird school

* * *

"School?"

"Yes, son, we'll stay a while."

Right after breakfast, Genma had motioned to Ranma to wait. Apparently, he had something to discuss.

They now sat facing each other in the dining room, the boy straining his neck while the man bowing his head and looking at his son.

"And how do you expect me to attempt school like this?"

"Did I say attempt? I just said 'go there'."

Genma recieved a bonk on the head for this. "An' where's the difference, you giant moron?"

"Look, boy, the schools need to be joined by marriage. You have to spend as much time with your fiancée as possible. She goes to school, so will you."

"What?! I have to babysit her?"

Suddenly Nabiki appeared, wearing a school uniform and her satchel was held by one hand over her shoulder. With an amused smile, she butted in, "That could be Akane's line."

Surprised, the little boy turned around and raised his head even further.

"Meet you there." And with that, she ran down the hallway to the main door.

"Nabiki wait, I'll go with you." Akane came in sight, also with school uniform and satchel. Ranma frowned.

"What are you talking about, Akane?" She threw a brief glance back at her sister with a sweet and innocent grin. "Ranma is your fiancé, right? You're supposed to spend time with him." She snickered and turned to put on her shoes and leave the house.

Akane's eyes fell down on said fiancé, whose gaze changed between her face and her right foot, an angry expression on his face. Maybe even mixed with a little bit of worry, too.

She growled as she noticed what he was thinking about, but then sighed in defeat. "Can you keep up with me, or do I have to carry you?"

"Sure can, I'm even faster tha...hey wait!" Akane shut him up by turning on her kneels and walking out the door, not caring what he was supposed to say.

"Uncute..." Ranma muttered under his breath as he sprang to his feet to catch up with his fiancée.

* * *

On her way to school, Akane's mood didn't change much. She was walking on the sidewalk like normal people did. Ranma, on the other hand, had jumped up on the almost 6 feet high fence, that kept pedestrians from falling into the canal below.

"We are not marrying, you know?"

"As if," came the little boy's muffled response. As stubborn as both of them were, they avoided any eye contact. Akane looked straight forward and Ranma stared at the other side of the river.

"I just wanted to make sure."

Not really paying attention, Ranma replied, "Yeah, yeah, whatever..."

After a few seconds silence, Akane spoke up again. "Why are you walking on the fence, anyway?"

"In my regular size it was good balance practice." He shrugged. Then a smile crept onto his face and he teased, "And now it makes it easier for me to avoid giant feet from clumsy tomboys like you."

Finally, Akane turned her head around and glared at the pigtailed boy. She clenched her teeth, while raising her satchel over her head, preparing to strike. "You little jerk!"

The pipsqueak had seen the blow coming. He jumped from the fence up in the air, sailed over Akane's head, sticking his tongue at her in midair, and completed his leap with several flips. He landed on the other side of the pavement from where he glanced up to Akane with one of his trademark lopsided grin plastered on his face. "Did you see that?"

*SPLASH*

Her arrogant smile vanished in instant as she felt her body weight shift. Her pants threatened to slip and she now had too much space in her shoes. Swearing, she adjusted her belt around her waist and searched for the source of the unwanted shower. Apparently the old lady who cleansed the sidewalk hadn't noticed that she just hit a passer-by. A very little one, but a passer-by nonetheless.

Akane didn't know if she should groan or laugh. One thing she knew was that he, or rather she, had deserved it.

As Ranma attempted to walk back to the Tendo house, Akane called after her, "Hey, the school's the other direction."

"What do you think? I'm gonna take a bath. I don't wanna walk around as a girl all day."

Akane didn't know why, but all of a sudden she wasn't angry anymore. Maybe Ranma was, as a girl, much more likable to her than she was as a boy. "You only need hot water, right? I have a better idea." Not waiting for a response, she walked over to the soaking wet girl.

Feeling the familiar tug on the back of her shirt, Ranma looked over her shoulder and saw that it was Akane who had picked her up. "Hey, what do you..." but her protest was cut short once the taller girl walked up to another house on the other side of the street. Akane sat her down on a flat gate post of a low fence that surrounded the little property. "Be right back!" she stated and turned to the house.

Ranma was only given a few seconds to wonder about Akane's sudden change of behaviour as her danger sense flared up. She jumped from the post to the ground, only barely avoiding the hand that now lay where she had been an eye blink before.

"Ranma, here is your...Oh, Doctor Tofu." Akane had just rounded the corner with a steaming kettle in her hand when she recognized the man who had almost squashed the pipsqueak.

"Good morning, Akane," replied the man. He wore a dark gi, round glasses and his dark-brown hair was tied in a loose ponytail. Strangely enough, he carried a skeleton with him.

"Ehm...good morning," she stammered and bowed while letting the kettle fall right onto Ranma. The pseudo girl was just glad that its contents weren't boiling and burning her as she caught it with one hand and easily lifted it over her head.

The man bowed as well and Ranma tried to get a better look at her fiancée's face. Was she blushing? Even smiling? The little girl was confused.

"It's been a while since your last visit. No injuries anymore?" the doctor said with a soft voice and a kind smile.

"No, Tofu-san, I mean...I haven't done anything..."

Meanwhile, the pigtailed girl hid behind a corner and overheard their conversation. 'Interesting,' she thought while she threw the kettle in the air, giving it a slight twist. It overturned once in midair, spilling some of its contents on the pipsqueak. Almost one inch taller, he caught the kettle again, not even turning his attention away from the two talking people.

* * *

Minutes later, Akane and Ranma were running through the streets, the girl on the sidewalk, the boy used the fence.

"Who was that guy?" asked Ranma, hoping that maybe this time he could have a conversation with Akane that didn't end violently.

"That was doctor Tofu. He's our chiropractor."

"He's martial artist, isn't he?"

"What makes you say that?..."

Ranma remained silent. 'By the way he moved, you could tell. I neither felt nor heard him approaching.'

"...you're right, though. He's a decent martial artist." She turned her face away from him so that he could not see her blush again.

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "But he's a man."

"Yes, he is. So what?" Akane asked, irritated.

"I thought you don't like men?"

She still avoided eye contact, so her look was directed at the building in front of them. Her expression grew hard. "Yes, I..." She suddenly increased her speed while she was talking, becoming angrier with each step. They neared the white building. "...despise..."

Ranma jumped down from the fence and took a closer look at Akane's school. In its gate were waiting about 30 boys, most of them armed with various sporting tools. "...men!"

The little boy could only stare as the horde of boys began to run towards Akane, shouting things like: "Akane, I love you! Date me, Akane! Go out with me!" If even possible, Akane's features turned even angrier, once she heard the shouts.

Ranma was shocked as he realized what all the guys were going to do: They attacked Akane! He had never seen such a gross violation of fairness. He had to help.

But he stopped in his tracks. Akane greeted her first opponents with two quick palm strikes that knocked them out in an instant. The rest of the horde seemed to await the same destiny and they even appeared to know it. His worry displaced by confusion, he jumped on the wall that surrounded the school yard to get a better look at the fight.

Apparently, Akane had no serious trouble beating all the guys up. She didn't move gracefully between her...they seemed to be her admirers...but they weren't very skilled either. However, why these admirers tried to beat Akane up was a mystery to the little boy. By the end of the battle, he decided that his fiancée didn't need any help with her suitors and turned to enjoy the show. Since it was over, the last one standing was a hard breathing and slightly sweating Akane.

'Wow, what a great workout. Maybe I can try sometime. And Akane isn't a bad martial artist, either. Though, it's obvious that she hasn't had proper training in years.' Ranma jumped down from his viewing platform in order to ask the girl what that had all been about. Halfway, he stopped in his tracks. A new attacker/admirer appeared in the schoolyard, who had probably hidden behind the nearby tree and waited for his performance.

The boy wore a samurai outfit and held a wooden sword in one hand, a red rose in the other.

"Such weaklings..." But he didn't come any further. Akane dealt a powerful blow right in his face that sent him flying head first into a tree trunk, knocking him unconscious in an instant.

Akane huffed a few times and growled, "They never learn."

Ranma finally made his way to his fiancée. "What's that supposed to mean? This happened before?" The sudden movement of the angry girl in front of him made him flinch back.

Akane turned sharply around and looked down at the little boy. "Will you move on your own or do you need an invitation?"

"Uh...no...I mean, why were those guys...?"

Akane groaned. 'I don't have time for this. School begins in a few minutes, if I wait any longer I'll be late. But what about him? Well, I can't just let him stand here, that is. What kind of stupid idea was it, anyway, that he had to accompany me to school?'

She cut him off mid-question by picking him up by the back of his shirt. "...hey, WHOA! Whaddya doin'?" But his protest met deaf ears while the taller girl rushed toward the school gates.

* * *

She was lucky. Akane entered the room and sat down behind her table only seconds before the teacher arrived. She sighed in relief. 'I hate bucket duty.'

Ranma was still confused. He had put up with the involuntary lift, first because he didn't know where her classroom was, and secondly he hoped Akane would come up with an explanation why about 30 boys had tried to beat her up down in the yard. He doubted it, though, since Akane ignored him completely after she sat him on her desk, and was paying close attention to the teacher's words. So he tapped on the hand that lay next to him and spoke up, "Hey, 'Kane, why..." He shut up as a wave ran through the students to Akane's table. He hadn't recognized the silence and the fact that everyone would hear him if he said something.

Akane was startled by Ranma's contact and voice as if she'd forgotten that the boy stood on her desk. She didn't looked down to him though, because her fellow classmates' courtesy was directed at her by the pipsqueak's words. She blushed and tried to hide Ranma in her hands. Noticing his meek struggle, she stood up. Thinking fast, she said, "Mr. Yamori? Can I go to the bathroom, please?"

"Why, Mrs. Tendo? The class only started minutes ago." He earned some snickers from that.

"Please, Sir, it's very urgent."

"You may go, Mrs. Tendo. Don't take too long." If a teenage girl asked that kind of question, who was he to argue?

Akane crossed the room, still guarding Ranma from the others' view with her hands and walked out the door. The moment it fell shut, she opened her hands and revealed the boy gasping for air. "Next time you spare some air holes," he panted, trying to regain his posture. Akane just rolled her eyes and walked down the hallway.

"You're not really gonna go to the bathroom, are you?" the little boy asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

"No, baka, I just don't want someone to eavesdrop." Once she was satisfied with the distance she had put between herself and her classroom, Akane crouched on the ground. Placing her feet on the floor, she sat her fiancé on one of her knees. He didn't bridle, she know he could, but seemed he didn't want to make eye contact. 'Could he be offended by the insult?' The girl shook her head, mentally. 'As if I care.'

"Ok, listen here. I'm only gonna say this once. First, don't speak anymore. I'll tell you the story of those morning brawls at lunch, if you want to. But keep quiet in class. Secondly, don't move during the lessons. You'd only attract attention this way. Actually it would be good if you..."

"Woah, wait a minute, 'Kane! You want me to 'only' be quiet the whole time and act like some kind of good luck charm?"

"I didn't want to put it that way, but generally yes." At his angry expression, she added, "Do you want to explain your whole life story to all these students? It would be much easier for both of us if you don't draw any attention."

Ranma didn't kid himself. It would come out sooner or later, especially if he had to accompany her everyday. He didn't care about the others, so why hide?

Noticing his displeasure, Akane continued. "You have an alternative, though. If it's really too hard for you to hold still a few hours, in my bag is enough space, so..."

Akane hit the jackpot. "Too hard for me to hold still for a few lousy hours? That's a laugh. You're on!" She'd judged the boy right: it seemed he never backed down from a challenge.

Then Ranma gave her a cocky smirk. "An' I've seen enough insides of stinking backpacks for the rest of my life, anyway."

The girl let his last comment slip. "So you know how to behave?"

"You bet, I know."

Akane sighed. She pushed the pipsqueak into one of her hands again and attempted to cover him up with the other one. "Remember the air holes," was the last thing she heard as she got up and walked back to the room of 1-F.

* * *

The lessons turned out to be deadly boring. Ranma had almost forgotten how dull schools were, since the last one he had attended was junior high. So it was rather easy to behave lifeless. He laid down on Akane's desk and began to snore silently.

That Akane paid attention to the teacher wasn't exactly correct. For her, it was a war of nerves. When the teacher faced the blackboard or looked in a different direction, the other students kept stealing glances at her, especially Sayuri and Yuka, her two best friends. Every now and then they tried to summon eye contact. When they achieved it, they mouthed: "What's that?" pointing at her 'mojo'.

'What am I going to do about them? I can't hide something that little...I mean big from my friends for long. They'll find out after a few lunches at the latest. Heck, the whole school will find out. It isn't very inconspicuous when I always carry a doll of a various guy with me everywhere I go. And even if nobody notices something odd, at one time or another somebody will see Ranma move or hear him talk. It's impossible to keep him secret when he literally almost jumps them in the face. He was lucky nobody paid attention to him during my morning fight. Or maybe someone even "had".'

Akane interrupted her mental monologue to take a look at her classmates. Most of them had returned their concentration back to the teacher. 'Apparently not. But what am I going to do at lunchtime? I've promised to tell Ranma the bottom of all these useless fights every morning. Damn stupid Kuno! Yuka and Sayuri would become suspicious if I don't eat with them as usual. It would look awkward to me, too, if one of them just sat alone under a tree and talked to herself. Sooner or later they'll know, so will the entire school. So it would be better if I tell them by myself instead of letting them jump to false conclusions by stupid rumors.'

She noticed that she was staring without really seeing anything and focused on the thing she'd been looking at. Sprawled on her desk lay her fiancé, who had fallen sound asleep. 'Hm, maybe it's better if I don't wake him up. I think it's easier to explain his condition when he's not moving or talking. It would be less freaky.' Akane buried her face in her hands. 'Ohh, they're going to declare me insane for this!'

The ringing of the bell for lunch, however, didn't give her much more time to feel sorry for herself. Her two friends rushed over to her desk, like always, to go out in the schoolyard together. Maybe it was just her imagination, though Akane vowed that they were a little bit more eager than usual to come over to her.

"Let's go to the tree where we ate yesterday. It was a nice place," Yuka said.

"Yeah, good idea," Sayuri agreed. "Don't you think, Akane?"

The dark-haired girl stared at them like a deer in headlights, almost panicking. "What? Yes, it's good...err...I mean...was nice."

"Everything okay, Akane?" Yuka asked, concerned.

"With me? All's right. What should be wrong?" Akane stammered while she tried to pick up Ranma without waking him up or let her friends see him.

"Usually you would complain that Kuno might find us like yesterday, that we need a safer place," Yuka explained.

"Yeah, you're acting kind of strange today. Does this have something to do with the little red doll you took to the restroom and you're cradling in your hands right now, desperately trying to hide from us?" Sayuri added, giggling.

"What doll?" Akane said lamely, still trying to avoid the inevitable, loosing her hope by the looks she received from the other two girls.

"Oh please, the whole class noticed your little good luck charm. It really was hard to overlook," Sayuri replied, still grinning.

"She's right, it was not inconspicuous, you know? I mean, you kept staring at it the entire lesson, you were not even responsive." A hint of worry resonated in her voice.

"So what's with it?" Sayuri was only curious, not wary.

Akane bit her lip. She opened her hands a bit to look at the 'doll's' face. 'I don't have to tell them about the engagement, though. I'll just say that he's the son of an old friend of my dad and they'll stay for a while, so I have to watch after him. It's not even a lie, but only partly true. And I won't tell them about his curse, he's freaky enough already.' She frowned at that. The little boy stirred in his sleep and she quickly covered him with her second hand again. Looking around to make sure nobody noticed, Akane turned back to her two waiting friends. "Let's get outside. I don't want anyone other than you two to hear it," she sighed and lead the way.

Sayuri and Yuka exchanged puzzled looks, but followed the dark-haired girl without a word.

* * *

There weren't many safe places in Furinkan High where you could be sure not to be overheard. Oddly enough, the roof seemed to be one. Nobody was ever up there when Akane wanted to be alone. The three girls opened the door and got out. Akane slumped to the ground and her friends sat down beside her.

"Spill it! What's the matter with you and this doll?" Sayuri didn't like Akane's secretiveness.

"Yes, Akane. It can not be that bad." Not like Sayuri, Yuka noticed something was troubling the dark-haired girl.

Akane remained silent, but opened her hands and allowed the two other girls to take a look.

Sayuri was entranced. "Oh, how cute! A martial arts mojo. It's perfect for you."

Yuka, on the other hand, eyed the doll critically. "Where did you get that from?"

"Do you have a secret boyfriend?" Sayuri guessed.

At the last word, Akane almost coughed. "No, it's not like that," she sighed and went on, "This is Ranma."

"An unusual name for a doll," Yuka stated.

"I think it's perfect," the other girl interjected, "and this doll's really cute if a guy would look as handsome as it..."

Akane bit her lip again. "Okay, pay attention. What I'm going to say might sound unbelievable, but I want you two to trust me and don't declare me insane or something like that. And try not to freak out."

"Akane, you're starting to scare me," Yuka said. Even Sayuri had lost a little bit of her calm at Akane's statement. She was nervously shifting on her knees. Or maybe she was getting nosier.

"Just promise already."

"Ok," both agreed, Yuka with a slight hesitation.

Akane took a deep breath and began. "Yesterday an old friend of my dad came back from a training trip. He had been in China for 10 years, but is now staying with us because of an agreement between him and dad. He made a 10-year training trip in order to train his son. Well, he's staying too. Some really strange things happened in China and somehow Ranma ended up like this," Akane finished.

Yuka raised her eyebrows. "Didn't you say this doll's name is Ranma?"

"Yes, he had..." Akane tried to explain, but Sayuri cut her off.

"Are you trying to tell us that this Ranma became so famous in China that action figures were produced of him?"

Akane face-faulted. "No, I'm trying to tell you that this is not a doll but the real Ranma. He's shrunken because of an incident back in China."

"Oh, yeah, sure. Why isn't it moving right now? Or during class?" Yuka said, not believing a word.

Totally missing her friend's sarcasm, Akane replied, "Well he got bored in class so he fell asleep on my desk."

"Let's wake it up then," Sayuri said in the same disbelieving tone as Yuka. Before the other girl could even react, she snatched the little boy out of Akane's hands and held him in a firm grip around his chest. And let him drop again in an instant. The moment she had held him convinced her that Akane had told the truth. She remembered the warmth that had emerged from this tiny body, its unusual weight, the faint lifting and lowering of its chest and the tensing up of some muscles. No doll she'd ever touched felt like this.

As deep as Ranma's sleep was, a shift from a diagonal to a vertical position managed to wake him up. The first thing he noticed was that he was held in a giant fist. But not for long as he felt himself slip through the fingers and fall. Still too dizzy to do something about it, he hit the ground below, face-first.

'What a way to wake up. Even cold water's more pleasant than this.' Groaning, he got to his feet and lifted his head in order to know who just dropped him. 'Who's that? They look kinda familiar. Where have I seen them before? Oh, yeah, right. They were in Akane's class.' The stares he received from them made him frown. They were familiar to him, too. The first girl opened and closed her mouth like a fish, apparently having forgotten how to speak. The second one had a blank expression plastered on her face and stammered senseless words.

Sensing a third presence behind him, he turned around. Akane sat behind him, her regard changing between the pipsqueak and her friends. Since she seemed to be the only one who was able to respond, he turned to the dark-haired girl. "'Kane? What's with them?" He pointed with his thumb to the two unmoving girls. "Have they seen a ghost or something?"

Akane needed a few seconds to realize that Ranma spoke to her. "No, no ghost. But a moving doll." She gave him a sizing look.

"Hey, it ain't my fault. I was asleep, I could do nothin' 'gainst it." Ranma paused, throwing the two stunned girls another glare. "Why did you tell them, anyway? I thought you wanted to keep me secret."

"Yes, I wanted to, but you'll be difficult to hide if you come to school with me everyday. They would have found out anyway, they're my best friends. The sooner everyone knows, the better."

Changing the subject, Ranma, who became aware of the strange surroundings for the first time since he woke up, said: "By the way, where are we?"

"We're on the school roof, it's lunchtime right now." Akane frowned at the bell that rang in the distance. "Or rather was. C'mon, I have to go back to class."

"Um...an' what 'bout them?" Akane's friends hadn't moved an inch since Sayuri had dropped Ranma.

"I think they just need some time to swallow what you dished them. They'll comply for sure. Our math teacher is very strict with dawdlers."

"I already said I couldn't help it!"

"Just teasing. Now come on or I have to stand in the hall."

The pigtailed boy threw one last glimpse back, then shrugged and jumped on Akane's shoulder. She was a little bit surprised by his action, but made her way downstairs to her classroom.

* * *

Akane sat down again behind her desk, her fiancé still on her shoulder. It was a mystery why it didn't bother her much that this boy was so close to her. Normally she wouldn't even let another one touch her. 'All boys are jerks and perverts! But Ranma is different, somehow.'

He was now laying on his back, hands behind his head and leaning against Akane's neck. "You're much more comfortable than that desk of yours," he said absent-mindedly, causing her to blush.

While the girl tried to ignore his comment, Ranma noticed the two girls they had left back on the roof entering the room just in time. They threw him and Akane critical looks as if to assure that they hadn't only dreamed their encounter back on the roof. During the lesson, they kept stealing glances at Ranma while talking silently to each other. Normally Ranma didn't care if other people whispered behind his back, but 'normally' he could avoid them. To be stuck in the same room with them made him feel a bit uncomfortable. He was grateful as the teacher finally had enough and ordered the two to stand in the hall. Closing his eyes, he leaned even further back, apparently totally forgetting were he was laying. Somehow every teacher had the ability to make him extremely sleepy. He drifted away once again.

* * *

Akane and Ranma were on their way back home. They passed the school gate and Ranma jumped from the girl's shoulder onto the first fence that came into view. Akane wore a questioning expression on her face until she remembered his habit and remained silent. The sudden cries of her name from behind, however, made her stop and turn around. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Ranma came to a halt as well.

The source of the yells were her two friends, Sayuri and Yuka, who were running in her direction, waving their hands in order to catch her attention. As soon as they reached Akane, they supported themselves on their knees, breathing hard. Yuka was the first who brought her panting back under control. "Good thing we got you. You left so fast...we almost couldn't follow," she gasped.

"Sorry, I was...um...in a hurry," Akane replied nervously. She knew they would now tell her how crazy she was.

Sayuri studied Akane from her feet up to her head, then frowned. "Where is it, I mean he?"

"Huh?" was the dark-haired girl's smart response.

"You know, this...Ranma." Yuka almost whispered the words as if she was afraid somebody might eavesdrop.

"We wanted...ow!" Sayuri shot a nasty glare at Yuka as she received a kick to her shin. "Okay, okay, I wanted to apologize for grabbing and dropping him. It was very rude."

Akane just lifted her hand to point up to the chain-link fence next to her. On top of it sat Ranma, crouched, with an amused smile on his face. He enjoyed his higher position, for once being the one who looked down at the others.

The two girls flinched back by the sight of him, but recovered quickly. "Um..Ranma?" Sayuri tried carefully.

The little boy just raised one of his eyebrows to symbolize that he was listening, still grinning.

Yuka shifted nervously on her feet by his little movement and Sayuri stopped a few seconds, then continued. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"No harm done, I can assure you that you weren't the first," Ranma chuckled.

His reply made both girls stir once more.

Akane looked alternately to her fiancé and her friends. She cleared her throat. "Let me introduce you formally. Ranma, these are my best friends, Sayuri and Yuka. Guys, this is Ranma. He's been like this since his incident in China."

"Nice to meetcha...again, I suppose," Ranma said, tugging on his pigtail, relieved he was out of the girls' reach. Both of them looked like they wanted to touch him again to be convinced he was real. The courtesy that now replaced their shock-like state was much more pesky. Even if he was some kind of world wonder, the continuous staring was simply annoying. Akane was the only one who had treated him normally from the beginning.

"Nice to meet you, too," Yuka answered. Apparently this little boy that sat on the fence above her was human like her, only with some weird condition. She bowed politely.

Sayuri copied her friend's bow, but didn't say anything; his appearance still unsettled her a bit.

For a few seconds nobody spoke, the two girls were just looking at Ranma. Akane broke the silence. "Ranma, we need to get home. Kasumi wanted to ask you something, but she didn't have enough time before we left for school this morning."

"Sure 'Kane." He jumped to his feet.

"Bye, Sayuri, Yuka. See you two in school tomorrow," she said and walked away, the little boy following her on the fence next to her.

* * *

"We're home!" Akane cried as she opened the front door and slipped out of her shoes. Ranma left his shoes next to hers and hopped onto the wooden floor.

Kasumi rounded the corner to greet her little sister as usual. Before she opened her mouth, she noted the red clad boy at Akane's feet. "Oh, welcome home you two. How was school today?"

"Like always," the younger girl replied while she gave Ranma a slight push with her foot as he opened his mouth to answer.

"That's nice, dinner will be ready soon," Kasumi said with one of the kindest smiles she was capable of. She looked down to the pigtailed boy. "And Ranma, would you mind coming with me for a moment?"

"Um...no, Kasumi, what is it?"

The tall girl turned to the stairs, continuing speaking, "It's about your clothes."

"My clothes?" Ranma repeated, puzzled. He followed her, jumping from one step to the next. "What's wrong with them?"

"Actually, there's nothing wrong. I just wondered where you got them from." She finally reached the guest room and slid the door open.

"Back in China we met a tailor. He made me some..." Ranma said and thought back to how embarrassing the size had been.

"But with what you're wearing, you don't have very much. Would you like me to sew you a few new ones? I only need to borrow some for the size."

Ranma was surprised at that. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Y-you don't need to...I mean...I don't want to impose..."

"It's no bother, I would like to. You prefer Chinese styles, don't you?" the tall girl said while she rummaged through Ranma's belongings. She found what she was looking for: a tiny set of clothes consisting of a red shirt, black pants and black boxers. "Oh, they are so cute. That reminds me of the time when I made dresses for Akane's dolls. She always played with them when she was younger."

Ranma paled at the mention of dresses. Apparently Kasumi didn't notice and left the room, humming.

* * *

Akane sat on her desk, doing her homework. A soft tap brought her out of her concentration. Ranma was standing outside on the windowsill, one of his hands still raised. She dropped her pen and slid the window open. The pipsqueak hopped in and sat down on the desk.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Ranma ignored the rudeness. "Well, you promised to explain to me what all those boys had been about this morning. An' since we didn't get much time at lunch..."

"I almost forgot. Ok, I'll tell you. Remember that last guy with the sword?"

The little boy thought for a moment then nodded slowly.

"That's Tatewaki Kuno. He's been obsessed with me since the beginning of the school year. On the first day he told all the boys at school that they were only allowed to date me if they defeat me in combat first." Akane snorted.

"You fight them every morning?"

"Yes, and the last challenger is always Kuno." She took a sip from the glass that stood next to the little boy.

"This morning - it looked like a great workout. Can I try some time?"

Akane slammed the glass in her hand violently on the table and spluttered her whole mouth contents all over her books. "You...*cough*.... want to...*cough*...try? Are you insa...oh, sorry."

A now completely soaked little redhead sat on her desk where Ranma had only been seconds ago with an annoyed expression. She shook some water out of her hair and grumbled, "Never mind." Looking up into Akane's eyes, she continued, "I wouldn't have expected any different from a giant tomboy and a glass of water in the same room."

Akane's temper flared in response. "It was an accident, you little jerk!" were the last words Ranma heard before her fist slammed into her body, sending her flying through the window outside into the yard and crashing against the wall that surrounded the house.

"Uncute..."

* * *

Author Notes: I hope you liked it. Suggestions are welcome, as always. This chapter was a little boring, indeed. Kuno will make his first real appearance in the next, I promise.

Beta'd by FantomoDrako, who desperately needs a holiday out of town. For all of you waiting for the fourth chapter, I know how you feel. Still, hang in there!


	4. Chapter: The Great Kuno

Author Notes: This is a brand-new version of the 4th chapter and it turned out great. My new beta-reader is a real genius. Send all regards to FrictionX42. And by the way, I am not looking for a beta reader anymore ;P

Disclaimer: Three times is already enough. Anyway, I don't own anything.

Version: 1.3

Chapter 4: The great Kuno

* * *

Akane and Ranma left for school like the day before, the girl on the ground and the boy on the fence as he preferred. Unlike the previous day, however, was the strained tension between the two. The prior evening's fight hadn't been forgotten yet. At breakfast the two had a competition to find out which of them could ignore each other more. Even as they left the house, they refused to speak to each other.

As the school gate came into view, the two teenagers increased their speed. The Hentai Horde was there as usual and anxiously awaiting Akane's arrival.

Akane charged the throng of boys, as usual. However, just as she reached her first opponent and readied her fist to knock him out with a single punch, he slumped to the ground, unconcious. Akane stared for a moment, uncomprehending. She hadn't even touched him. Ignoring this odd incident, she turned only to find most of the rest of her would-be attackers already laying on the ground, unmoving. The few left were just standing in the middle of the yard and staring with their jaws wide open at something that seemed to come closer to them. Seconds later, they joined the other guys on the ground.

After a few seconds, Akane realized what had happened. Her fury returned as she spotted her fiancee on the other side of the battlefield. If she hadn't been so angry, she would probably have been surprised by the fact he had just taken out around 30 guys – all of them 10 times bigger than himself – without effort. But that wasn't the case.

"Baka, that was my fight!"

The students, who always watched the morning fights from their safe classrooms, were totally dumbfounded. First, Akane's enemies fell without her touching them and now she was yelling at a small red something on the ground next to her. Nabiki was the only one smiling. Not a single person had bet that a 6 inch tall boy would stop the whole hentai horde in less than 20 seconds.

Ranma huffed in annoyance. This little workout hadn't helped to lighten his mood; it had been no challenge. He groaned as he heard his fiance's shout and turned around, facing the approaching girl.

"Why did you butt in? I could have handled them myself."

"I didn't do that for you," Ranma replied. He tried to ignore the students looking out the window, who were now mumbling and pointing at him with confused expressions. Some of them were even besieging Nabiki, asking her what was going on.

Akane wanted to snap back but was distracted by the only other boy left standing in the schoolyard aside from Ranma. Next to a tree, where he had apparently hidden to jump into action as soon as the main fight was over, was Kuno, not moving an inch. At Akane's glance he seemed to snap out of his confusion. He took a step towards the arguing couple and tried to understand the scene that unfolded in front of him. Since it was Tatewaki Kuno who was struggling with an explanation, the outcome was a little bit different from what a normal human would come up with.

"Hell sends its demons to separate my beloved Akane from me. Imp, stay away from her, you will not harm a single hair on her lovely head."

Akane and Ranma blinked a few times, not exactly knowing to whom the other boy had spoken to. After realizing the threat was apparently directed at him, Ranma pointed at himself with one finger and asked, "Do you mean me?"

"Silence, cretin. I will send you back to where you came from," Kuno said, and raised his bokken over his head. He attempted to slash at the little red figure, but stopped. The demon was acting weird.

At the other boy's words, Ranma had broken down laughing. "This is rich. Me? A demon? Say, 'Kane, is he this Kuno you told me about yesterday?"

Kuno gave Akane no chance to reply. "Yes, I'm the great Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, undefeated master of kendo and raising star of Furinkan High also known as the Blue Thunder." Suddenly a blue lightning lit up the sky for a split of a second. "It is not surprising that even low demons like you have heard of me. But for what you have done to the fierce tigress, you shall be punished," he finished and slashed his bokken down at Ranma.

The pigtailed boy seemed to be more impressed by the timed light effects than Kuno's strike. He lifted his left hand and caught the tip of the wooden sword. As Ranma used his ki to add a bit to his weight, he tightened his grip around the weapon.

Kuno tried to free his bokken, but after several seconds of fruitless struggling, he cried, "You will not fool me with your black magic, demon."

Overwhelmed by the strain, the bokken suddenly snapped in two. The taller boy was thrown to the ground by the force, while Ranma just jerked as he absorbed the blow with his hands. He threw the broken sword away and spoke up. "Ok, listen. First, I'm not a demon, secondly, I haven't even touched your 'beloved Akane' and third, you were the one who attacked me, I just defended myself. But fine, have it your way. I'm Ranma Saotome, heir of the Saotome Anything Goes Martial Arts school and I accept your challenge."

Akane butted in. "Hey, quit stealing my fights!"

Ranma had almost forgotten about the girl standing behind him. He turned around and began, "He was the one who..."

"How dare you to speak to the beauteous Akane Tendo?" Kuno interjected. "I will exorcise the evil!" He pulled a new bokken out of thin air and slashed at Ranma a second time.

His target, however, was not where it was only moments ago. Ranma had sidestepped his vertical strike and jumped up in the air above Kuno's head. Since nobody could follow the pipsqueak's movements, all the spectators still stared at the spot where the wooden sword hit the bare stone.

The moment Kuno realized his attack had failed again, he felt a little shadow brush over his face. Before he knew anything else, pain exploded in the spot between his eyes and he fell backwards. Even if he would have had the necessary speed to move out of the way or defend himself against the other boy's kick, he was too startled to do anything other than blink. The last thing he saw was the bright blue sky before his vision faded to black.

Ranma landed lightly on the tips of his feet and gave the fallen boy an arrogant snort. "And I thought he was stronger." His attention turned to his fiance behind him. "Don't you have classes right now?"

Akane's mood darkened. She shot him an angry glare but kept her mouth closed. Ignoring the little boy and the other students who were still staring at her and the pipsqueak, she walked over to the school gate and entered the building. It was the first time that someone had ever helped her with the morning fights. She didn't know why, but strangely enough the fact that Ranma had beat up the guys for her gave her a somewhat odd feeling. 'What am I thinking?' She shook her head to clear her mind. 'He's just a little jerk.'

Just as she reached the corner, the sound of the main door opening was heard. Over the sound of the door came Ranma's voice, "Yo, tomboy, wait for me!"

'Correction: He's a big jerk.'

Ranma saw the taller girl round the corner without even paying him any heed. Huffing in annoyance, he ran after her and reached the classroom just in time before Akane slammed the door shut behind her. "What's with you, 'Kane?" He followed her to her desk where she sat down. The little boy jumped on the table to force eye contact but she successfully prevented any attempt, looking everywhere but at him. "I thought ya said you hated those mornin' fights. Why are you so pissed?"

All of the students that had been in the classroom the whole time were still staring out the window. Most of them were completely oblivious to the odd pair's entrance. Some succeeded in snapping out of their confusion at the strange scene in front of the school to look at who hadjust arrived. Their gasps caused by the sight of the recently arrived couple, however, caught the whole crowd's attention. Akane and the little red something were right here, in the same room with them and now all of them where able to see exactlywhat it was.

A few seconds passed and nothing happened. Then, like one being, they rushed to Akane's desk to get a better look at the little boy.

Akane almost fell out of her chair by the sudden approach of all her classmates at once. Her fiancee, however, seemed oblivious to their attention. The moment he wanted to continue battering Akane with questions, however, a boy behind him decided that only watching wasn't convincing enough; he had to be certain that what played before their eyes was not just collective imagination. Before Ranma even noticed, his feet dangled in the air. The desk was almost one foot beneath him and by the tight feeling around his chest, he could only guess that he was being picked up by his shirt again.

The students gathered around the brave boy who had dared to pick up the creature, and stared at his outstretched hand. Ranma sighed. 'Here we go again.'

"Wow, awesome," a guy said.

"Neat trick," another exclaimed.

"It's kinda cute," a girl threw in. She received a few odd looks from the others.

"This thing beat Kuno?" the first guy wondered. He raised his hand and tried to touch the little boy.

Ranma slapped the hand away and replied, "I ain't no thing, you idiot." He used the hesitation caused by his words to push the fingers of the taller boy apart, so that they lost their hold on his shirt and he dropped on the desk again. "Do I look like a thing to you? I'm neither a demon nor a thing, I'm as human as all of you."

The group in front of him fell silent but continued staring at him, some with curiousity, some with doubting and even a few with amused expressions on their faces. Ranma hated that kind of attention and right now was not a good moment for it. He still had to find out what was with Akane. Why was this girl so extremely stubborn? He turned around to the only three persons in the room who where not surprised by appearance. Though, two of them were still uneasy.

Sayuri and Yuka stood on each side of Akane and were apparently trying to cool her mood. The little boy ignored the gaping class behind him and attempted to catch his fiance's attention.

Unfortunately, the teacher chose exact that moment to enter the classroom. At first he looked at the crowd around Akane's desk, startled, but then cleared his throat. " I know Tendo-kun is quite a popular person, but can't that wait until the lessons are finished?"

The students slowly backed away from the table, not once tearing their eyes away from the strange boy, and searched for their own seats.

Just as Ranma opened his mouth, Akane slammed her school book on her table, missing him by inches. This was enough to make the little boy shut up. The teacher started his lesson, totally missing the fact that nobody even paid attention to him, since they were far more interested in something else in the room.

* * *

The bell announced lunchtime, not a time Ranma had looked forward to. Now he had to deal with Akane's curious classmates. And here they were, once more forming a circle around the desk and taking a close look at him, as well as at Akane. Since nobody said a word, they were apparently waiting for an explanation. Ranma tugged his pigtail. He had come to be used to it by this point, but situations like this were always kind of unpleasant.

"Uhh...hi?" he tried lamely. His audience absorbed his words like a dry sponge would soak up a few water drops.

The boy who had picked him up earlier, seemed not to be knocked off his socks that easily. He eyed Ranma critically. "You are human? Really? And how's that?"

A bit surprised at the direct address, Ranma answered, "Accident with a magical poiton in China." He knew the boy didn't believe him.

"I don't believe you."

Since he only had to deal with one student (the others remained silent, eager to watch and listen on), his normal cocky self returned. He crossed his arms and snapped back, "Got a better explanation? I don't care if you believe me or not, so think of something you like better."

The others threw demanding glances towards Akane, who confirmed Ranma's assertion with a meek nod. She was not used to so much attention without the possibility to release it with a good beating up.

"And who are you?" a girl to his left wanted to know.

"Ranma Saotome," he replied as if that would explain everything.

"He's the son of a friend of my father and they are staying because of an agreement," Akane helped out.

"You know that was not my idea," he yelled back as if she had just blamed him. "I'd rather be in China to search for a cure then be enga..."

By grabbing him around the chest and covering his mouth, Akane managed to cut him off before he could finish the sentence. Some of her classmates were shocked by her rude assault. She lifted him off the table and attempted to leave the room. "I need a few words with this baka." Since one of her fingers still kept Ranma from opening his mouth to protest, nobody answered. She closed the door behind her and with a faint feeling of deja vu, she walked down the hall. Only that this time she dropped him to the ground, knowing full well he wouldn't be hurt and remained standing. Somehow, she liked the height advantage she had over him, especially because he was a boy.

Not too thrilled about the thought of straining his neck during the upcoming conversation, Ranma jumped on a windowsill next to her and looked up to her. By the angry glare he received, he gulped, "Sorry, I kinda...uh...slipped?"

"Kind of? For someone who doesn't want the others to know about it, you're not really acting that way."

"It wasn't deliberate, I just forgot..." Akane cut him off again.

"I have no idea how you're able to forget about something like this." She rubbed her forehead and sighed, "Be careful the next time, okay?" As he dropped his gaze to the ground and answered with a faint nod, Akane smiled inwardly. Somehow, that one girl had been right: He really was cute when he was not behaving like a jerk.

Akane stumbled. Why was she thinking something like this about him? He was a boy, but acted almost totally different from the ones at school. After the things he had told her and she had seen, it was obvious that Ranma was able to beat her in combat, despite his condition. Especially after she had witnessed what the little boy had done to the whole hentai horde and Kuno, she was convinced. But why wasn't he challenging her? Every single boy, even the most casual, had tried it at least once. Every boy except Ranma. She was uncertain how to behave around the little boy. Her usual response to boys seemed rather unfair towards him, especially with his height disadvantage. Maybe he had deserved the table; the foot stomp, however, now appeared quite exaggerated. What exactly had been the cause for it? Actually, he had just bumped into her leg. Did she really crush him into the floor only because he ran into her leg? He may be a jerk, but at that moment he had done nothing wrong.

A faint wave of guilt crept onto her face and washed some of her confusion away. Confusion was the keyword, the reason for her violent reactions in his presence. Judging from the way she had treated him the previous two days, she doubted he considered her as a friend or even liked her. The guilt bit further. Suddenly his strange curses appeared horrible to her. She couldn't imagine how to handle being just 5 inches tall, even changing into a boy sent shivers down her spine. Those two conditions caused him enough problems without her help, so the last thing he needed was some forced fiance, who always yelled at him or beat him up. But since the revelation of his true gender, that had been the only thing she had done.

In addition to all that, it sure helped that Ranma was the size he was. Akane doubted she could think the way she was thinking about him if he had been regular size. But somehow was she able to sympathize with him. Not that she had never pitied someone, but that the person in question was a boy was something she wasn't used to. It's not that she had hated boys her whole life, it wasn't even real repulsion. To be exact, the only thing she really hated was the perverted behavior that, after her experience, always seemed to come with them. Kuno was the worst, closely followed by the hentai horde.

Ranma raised his head to look up to the taller girl. She appeared sort of absent-minded, staring right through him. Apparently her thoughts turned back to reality and she focused on him again. Her tense features softened after an almost unremarkable hesitation and she opened her mouth. "Since this is now clarified, would you like...uh...are you hungry?" He was a bit startled by her sudden change of mind; he wanted to reply, but his stomach was faster then his mouth. Akane tried to stifle her giggle at the growling sound while he turned red in embarrassment.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." She picked him up, sat him carefully on her shoulder and walked back to the classroom in order to get her bento.

* * *

Somehow, Akane and Ranma succeeded in escaping her fellow classmates and their questions, and made it to the schoolyard. She sat down under a giant tree while the little boy hopped to the ground and placed himself next to her.

Shortly after Akane unwrapped her bento and gave Ranma a few grains of rice, Yuka and Sayuri approached them. At the sight of the little boy seated on the grass, both hesitated, but decided to join Akane for lunch, regardless of her strange company.

"Hi Akane, hi uh..." Sayuri looked down at the shrimp, who happily munched his rice, "...Ranma."

"Would you mind us joining you?" Yuka asked.

"No, have a seat, you two," Akane replied.

For a few minutes the four teens silently sat under the tree, not speaking a word; Akane and Ranma appeared relaxed while the other two girls shifted, unsettled, on their knees. Suddenly, Sayuri broke the silence. "Since when?"

The other three looked up, finding her intently watching Ranma's movements. Apparently the question was directed at him.

"Since when what?" he asked, puzzled.

"Since when are you that little?"

Ranma leaned back and tugged at his pigtail. "Well, I think for almost two months now," he replied thoughtfully.

Akane's friends were surprised at that. "That short? And before that you were normal?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm not some kind of demon, even if Kuno seems to think so, I just got messed up with some magical potions."

While Sayuri drooled over the imagination of someone like Ranma in life-size, Yuka turned to Akane. "And why are you taking him to school, instead of him staying at your home? I thought your older sister is always at home, she could look after him."

"I ain't helpless!" Ranma complained. "It's because of our fathers, they..."

Akane slapped her hand on his mouth to shut him up. Even if he wasn't about to say something about the engagement, she didn't want to run the risk. Unfortunately, she ended up slamming him into the ground, though it still worked; he was cut off. She nervously turned back to her friends, who looked at her with wide eyes, and stammered, "Well, he...um...wanted to...go to school, yeah, that's it."

"Oh, does he?"

All three girls and Ranma, if he would have been able to, twirled around, looking out for the source of the new voice.

Arms crossed and with an amused smile on her lips, Nabiki Tendo stood in front of them.

The dark-haired girl panicked at the sight of her. "Nabiki, I warn you, if you tell..."

"Calm down, Akane-chan." The older girl winked at her. "This information is far too expensive for any normal person."

Some of Akane's anger disappeared. "So, you won't tell anyone?" she asked hopefully.

"Well, I said it has its price and no normal person is is able to afford it." Nabiki smirked and showed her sister and the other three witnesses a remarkably large wad of notes. With a smile, she added, "Would you characterize Kuno as 'normal'?"

Akane paled. She couldn't have told 'him' of all people, could she? Sayuri and Yuka seemed to anticipate what Nabiki's action might cause while over Ranma's face was only written the question: What is going on?

The second yell caught not only the four girls' and the shrimp's attention this time, but also of all the students present in the schoolyard. "That cannot be! I won't allow this demon to claim my beauteous Akane!" Kuno sprinted to the tree's location, holding his ever-present bokken over his head. He reached his destination and found the target sitting between the girls on the ground and giving him a baffled look. "How dare you use these fair maidens as a shield? This display of cowardice won't help you to escape justice. For what you have done to my fierce tigress, I will punish you!"

Ranma jumped to his feet, just fast enough to avoid the other boy's attack. "I ain't no coward. And what are you talking about?"

A crowd was now forming around the tree. The ones who had only watched the morning fight were shocked by the sight of Ranma. Akane's classmates on the other hand, were eager to see this dwarf in action again. The three non-martial artists backed away from the two strange boys. You never know what will happen if Kuno is involved.

"I, Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, am talking about the powerful black magic you cast on her. How else would she possibly agree to be engaged to a fell demon? Prepare to be ban-"

A fist to his face cut him off. But Akane hadn't been fast enough, it was already too late.

The entire school was dead silent in shock. First, Akane was accompanied by a 6 inch tall boy. To only think that something like this was even possible was strange enough, but to see it first-hand was freaky. Though her classmates had seen him the previous day, they never dreamed that this little doll was actually somehow human. Furthermore, said boy had simply beat up the whole hentai horde plus Kuno within seconds, not even breathing hard after that masterly achievement. And now they found out that this little guy was engaged? To Akane? Everyone who once attended Furinkan High or were just going there now, agreed that it was a really weird school where now and then some strange things happened. The students may be used to incidents far from normal, but this was definitely one of the strangest. It even topped Kuno, the morning brawls and the rumors about their principal.

Kuno took a step back to look at the person who interrupted him so violently and his expression was lifted by the sight. "Ah, Tendo Akane, I appreciate your thanks but, alas, it has to wait until I have sent this creature back to its realm." Then his expression grew angry once again as he answered all the students, who were repeating "Engaged?" over and over again. "Yes, this creep's magic must truly be strong to call up the illusion of an upcoming marriage. But don't fear, I will free the world of this evil."

"Will you quit calling me a demon? I can do nothin' about this stupid condition," Ranma shouted with growing anger from below.

It was now Kuno's turn to look confused. "Though you can do nothing about it, ancestors are not a condition." He shook his head and continued, "But that is not the point. Actions speak louder than words and now face the wrath of Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, demon slayer of Furinkan High." The taller boy performed a few silly looking stances, then struck down at the shorty, only to hit air once again. His target vanished.

All students turned their heads to find out where Ranma had disappeared to. Suddenly, one of the girls pointed up to the tree where the little boy stood on one of its branches more than 10 feet above the ground.

Kuno looked up to his enemy. " Using your magic again to escape? You, coward, must have realized that you have no chance against me."

Ranma clenched his fist and jumped down from the tree, causing some bystanders to gasp. He ignored the crowd of curious teens around him. "I'm not going to take this anymore. I can take you anytime, you twit, even blindfolded." The little boy slipped into a loose stance. "Come on!"

Everyone except the two Tendos and Kuno looked dumbfounded at Ranma. Before they were able to ask if that was some kind of joke, Kuno followed the invitation and attacked. Like the first time he missed, as Ranma jumped back. He bounced off the ground and leaped over the bokken. To the students' surprise, Ranma delivered a punch in the taller boy's stomach, which appeared, judging by Kuno's gasp, quite powerful. He lightly landed on his feet again and made an attempt to attack anew. The reaction of his opponent, however, made him stop in his tracks. Kuno held his sword down and looked like he was frozen in motion before he, still unmoving, fell forward and hit the ground face first.

Ranma blinked a few times then slapped his forehead. "Damn, not again."

The crowd blinked as well. This was the second time this day that Kuno was taken out by someone other than Akane. One boy was able to shrug off his confusion and regain his ability to speak. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

Oblivious to the real meaning of the question, Ranma responded without looking up. "I didn't intend to beat him unconscious. Just forgot that my strength's the same as it was before..." He interrupted himself as he noticed the boy's puzzled look and that the other students were slowly closing the distance towards him, their eyes wandering between him and Akane.

Ranma broke out in sweat, not thrilled by the thought of being picked up by all of them and certainly not to explain everything. "I...uh...gotta work on that." He saved himself from the approaching students' reach by jumping back on the branch. "C'ya at home, 'Kane," he called over his shoulder before he leapt over the heads of the whole crowd and escaped through the school gates.

"Hey, come back here!" Akane called after him, but he was already out of earshot. She gulped as the entire school's attention now turned upon her, all of them bombing her with questions about Ranma and the engagement.

Akane slammed the front door shut behind her, not bothering to announce her arrival with a call as usual. She was still fuming for what Ranma had done hours ago. He had just run away, leaving it to her to explain his condition to almost everyone at school and to make sure nobody took the engagement seriously. At least, she was confident that she managed to convey it that way. Apparently, the majority seemed to take it as some kind of joke like herself. Kuno definitely counted as the exception.

Kasumi rounded the corner to greet her younger sister like always. "Hello Akane-chan. Did something happen in school today?"

"Not really, Kasumi," Akane replied, trying to contain her anger towards her innocent sister.

"Why wasn't Ranma-kun with you? I saw him coming back from school hours ago. He headed to the dojo and I think he's still in there. Are you sure everything is alright?"

"It's nothing, really," Akane assured once more and walked up the stairs to her room.

* * *

Kasumi reentered the kitchen and continued to chop the vegetables for dinner. Since their mother died, she had taken over all of the chores. Although she had been making food for over 10 years, she still loved to cook for her family as well as she still loved to keep the house clean. She always needed things to do to not get bored. But over the years, there seemed to be less and less work to do. Nabiki didn't like it if she cleaned in her room anymore, because she might sneak a glimpse at her top secret finances. And Akane insisted on doing it herself, even if afterwards her room mostly looked worse than before.

But with their two new house guests also came new work. Especially with Ranma's condition. She felt a bit guilty that she had forced him to use the furo for the previous two days. Maybe he wasn't able to swim, like Akane, and would have drowned in it. That's why she had already placed a bowl in the bathroom and planned to fill it with hot water after dinner. Moreover, she had tried to make a pair of tiny chopsticks, which lay now on the smallest plate she could find. Even if said chopsticks were just two chips of wood and the plate a small saucer, she figured that it must be much more comfortable for him to eat with them instead of out of a giant bowl.

Her thoughts turned back to the now perfectly cut vegetables in front of her, admiring her work for a few seconds. Then she grabbed the knife again, separated some of each kind and chopped them even further until no piece was greater than a grain of rice. Kasumi smiled. Ranma sure brought some new work with him.

* * *

The sky grew darker and with every passing minute more stars appeared. A chill breeze gently caressed Ranma's cheek as he lay on the roof, watching the countless lights above him.

He frowned. Only three months ago he had been in China, training with his father like he had done as long as he could think back. Now, he lived in a still strange house, changed into a girl when hit with cold water and was shrunken to the size of a mouse. Definitely too many problems gained in a too short a time. He considered to count the engagement as one as well, but since neither Akane (he hoped so) nor himself took it for real, rather for their fathers' joke, he decided against it. Even if he had to spend time with her, it might actually help him somehow to find a cure for his condition. Why else would Mr. Tendo agree to the engagement if he didn't believe that there was a cure? And if the man's intention was to help him regain his regular size, then was that just fine with him. When that guy somehow really succeeded in finding one, then his motives did not matter at all, at least not to Ranma.

His condition was absolutely his first problem to be solved. Changing into a girl sure sucked, but to be only 6 inches tall was far worse. He could live with the curse, even if he didn't like it one bit, but the imagination of experiencing his whole life from the perspective of a mouse was not appealing. So finding a solution to this particular problem had first priority.

He shivered by a new chill breeze. 'Time to go to bed,' he decided and got up from the tiles. He jumped from the roof and slid through a small gap between the back door that somebody must have left open. He slid the door shut and headed to the stair's direction. As he reached them, he couldn't help but smile. On the right side laid a long board, which reached from the lowest to the highest step and was just broad enough for him to walk on it.

First Kasumi had offered him to sew clothes, then the tiny chopstick and plate plus bite-sized food, the bowl in the bathroom and now this.

He hopped on the board and walked up to his room. Tomorrow he would thank her for all what she was doing for him. His father was already sound asleep on his futon and Ranma was greeted with a snore as he silently slid the door to the guest room open. The little boy snorted in disgust and walked over to the pillow that was laid out for him instead a giant futon. As soon as he covered himself with the makeshift blanket, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Author Notes: At first, the ending of this chapter was a bit different. But after some time, I didn't like it anymore, so it took me a while to write a new one. Now I have to change the fifth as well, because some scenes are based on the previous ending.


	5. Chapter: Tenor Of Events

Author Spiel: In my opinion, teachers are aliens.

DisC: I don't own anything. Nothing.

Version: 1.4

Chapter 5: Tenor of events

* * *

The Tendo family sat around the dining table enjoying the breakfast the oldest daughter had prepared. For two days now, their two strange house guests disturbed the usual scene. Akane's attention, however, was not directed to the giant panda seated opposite from her father and gorging like a starving animal, but to the boy who sat on the table next to her.

Today had been the first time he had sparred with his father in the morning. She knew Ranma was an extraordinary martial artist, but to see what he actually was capable of doing was something she hadn't been prepared for. For a normal grown person jumps to the rooftop might have been imaginable, but not for a 6 inch tall boy! He definitely had been right with his assertion that he had much more strength than his body would ever be capable of generating under normal circumstances. If you could even consider normal circumstances when it came to Ranma.

Akane played the morning's battle over again in her mind. The fight between the two Saotomes had mainly played out in midair, at 7 feet above the ground. Genma had delivered powerful blows against which, Akane had had to admit, even she would have great trouble blocking. He had shown no mercy towards Ranma, in spite of his condition, throwing punch after punch and apparently going all out against the diminutive boy. His son had been forced to jump and twist around the man's attacks, and even if he had been hit, he seemingly had had no serious trouble blocking the fists that slammed into his tiny body, by simply taking the force out of them.

At first, Ranma had appeared to have his enemy under control, in the course of the fight, however, it was obvious that Genma would gain the advantage sooner or later. Since Ranma had had to move much more than his opponent, in order to even reach him, his superior in speed and skill had slowly been eroded by exhaustion. With a last burst of energy he had managed to send Genma splashing into the pond, only to get the favor returned by the panda's powerful paw strike seconds later, which the little boy was unable to fully mitigate. A tiny, hard-breathing redhead returned to the surface just as Kasumi called out for breakfast.

Akane's internal flashback was interrupted by her oldest sister's question. She shook her head to snap back to reality and turned towards Kasumi. "Sorry, what was that?"

Kasumi smiled kindly as she noticed her sister's source of distraction, and repeated her request. "I was wondering, would you mind stopping by Tofu's clinic after school? I borrowed one of his books and wanted to give it back to him, if it's not too much trouble."

"No problem Kasumi, I can do that.", Akane replied and took the book that Kasumi handed her.

* * *

"I still can't understand why I have to go to school.", Ranma growled from his higher position on the fence.

Akane shot him a brief glance and then replied, marveling again that despite his perch being quite a bit higher than hers, she still had to look down to adress him, "Don't ask me that, I don't see any real reason either." The school gates came in sight and she broke out in a run to greet her challengers as usual.

Ranma jumped down from the fence and ran after the girl, only to crash in one of her legs as she came to a sudden halt. He stepped back and rubbed his nose. As he looked up and saw the bewildered expression on her face, he jumped on her head to get a better look at what was apparently confusing her. He ignored her surprised shriek and let his eyes wander over the empty area, when he noticed what was missing he hesitantly ventured, "Where are your admirers?"

"They are not my admirers," Akane grumbled in response and pushed him carefully from her head onto her shoulder. "It's strange, though. They have always been here...", she said more to herself than to Ranma.

"Well, if I were you, I wouldn't just stand here an' wait for them to show up eventually." Ranma quipped, breaking Akane out of her confused pause.

Deciding that he really did have a point Akane walked towards the gate, somehow expecting that someone would jump out of his hiding place and assault her from behind. The fact that nobody tried to beat her up was weirder to her than the normal brawls with the hentai horde and Kuno, to which she had become entirely too accustomed.

But nothing happened. Akane, with her fiancé riding on her shoulder, reached the main door unharmed. She tried to ignore the little boy's quiet swearing about school and headed towards her classroom, only to find someone standing in front of the door. She threw a brief glance up to the clock in the hallway and frowned. The lesson hadn't started yet, so why was her teacher waiting for her?

"Good morning Mr. Yamori. Is something the matter?", Akane asked with a bad feeling.

"Good morning, Miss Tendo." the older man greeted back and continued straightforwardly, "And yes, it actually is. Normally, I'm not really interested in your students' business, but one of the latest rumors has made me wonder. From what I overheard, there are some things that you might be able to explain me more fully, since I wanted to be sure that I didn't hear them wrong. There was something about a certain fiancé of yours, who is living with you as of recently and further, that you have brought him to school for the last two days without us knowing."

"Um...well...yes." Akane gulped, her fears confirmed. It was a good thing that Ranma was smart enough not to draw any attention upon himself and to just listen, rather to get involved. His intentions to stay hidden between Akane's hairs seemed to work, since the teacher didn't noticed his presence as he raised an eyebrow and went on: "And am I right in assuming that he is about your age?" By the confused look the girl was giving him, he added, "Miss Tendo, your personal life may be none of my business, but as a teacher I feel that it's my duty to make sure that every teenager gets a proper education."

Akane stared at Mr. Yamori with a bewildered expression on her face. That was the stupidest thing she had heard a teacher ever saying. But then, maybe he knew nothing of Ranma's condition. "I don't think he is able to attend school, because..."

"I'm well aware that he is not attending any school right now, since no new students were registered this week at this school and the only other school in proximity to Furinkan High is St. Bacchus, which is an all girls school."

Somewhat relieved that the little boy still kept quiet, she replied: "It's not that he doesn't want to go to school..." a disagreeing tweak at her shoulder accompanied her answer "...there's rather something that prevents him..." her voice trailed. 'Why am I defending him?' Akane thought to herself in wonder.

Mr. Yamori's patience slowly subsided by Akane's uninformative answers. "I know students nowadays dislike going to school, but there's no way around law. His disability can not be that bad, if he was able to accompany you on both of the two previous days, can it? Since he doesn't seem to be with you today, I expect his registration application next Monday at least." With his last words, he attempted to turn around, signaling the end of the conversation.

For Akane, however, it was not. Why are teachers always convinced that they know everything better than you do and never bother to hear you out? Fortunately, the proof for her words sat handily onto her shoulder. She quickly reached over and grabbed Ranma by the shirt and tried to tug him out of his hiding place, only to feel him clutch at her shoulder, apparently not willing to let go. He began to protest stridently: "No! like he said, I don't wanna go to school, noway!"

Akane literally ripped him off her shoulder and said quietly: "Idiot, I'm trying to achieve the opposite. How can he possibly put you in school, if he sees your little problem." She looked back to the man, who stared wide eyed at the girl's outstretched arm. His own hand had stopped halfway to the door knob, apparently totally forgotten, that he was supposed to start the lesson. "Mr. Yamori, do you still think, his disability is nothing?", she asked in a sweet voice.

Finally, Mr. Yamori was able to tear his gaze away from the little boy, who dangled in front of her nose, and closed his eyes. He took a few deep, calming breaths, adjusted his tie, then cleared his throat and opened his eyes again. "I-I don't s-see any problems, Mrs. Tendo.", he stammered, much more shaky than he had hoped for. He cleared his throat once more, then continued: "I mean...he appears totally well to me." His customary strength in his voice returned with every word he spoke. "I expect both of you in class today."

It was now the two teenagers turn to look at the man, as if he had just grown a second head. "But...", both of them complained in unison, but Mr. Yamori cut them off.

"No buts. Mrs. Tendo, will you please enter the classroom and take your seat, and you Mr..." He pointed with a trembling finger at the shrimp. As none of the teenagers condescend to tell him the boy's name, he went on "...will introduce yourself to the class." With that, he opened the door and entered the room full of waiting students.

"You're such a genius, Akane.", Ranma growled as the teacher was out of earshot.

"I had no idea that he would react like that." she said in defense. Then she sat him on the ground and followed Mr. Yamori into the classroom, before it could occur to him to punish her for being late.

Ranma walked after her while cursing under his breath. The taller girl gave him one last glance, before she headed for her desk an sat down.

Apparently not bothered by the students lack of attention, since it was directed at the little boy, Mr. Yamori spoke up: "Good morning class. Today we have a new student joining us. I expect you to incorporate him and treat him with respect." he then gave Ranma a wave and said: "May you please come here and introduce yourself?"

Ranma did as he was told, while he tried to not hear the other students muttering. As he reached the teacher's desk, Mr. Yamori made an attempt to grab him by his shirt and help him on the table. But Ranma avoided the his fingers and jumped, to the man's surprise, at the table by his own with ease and spat, "Keep your hands to yourself." He then faced the class. "I'm Ranma Saotome." he stated, annoyed.

"So, Mr. Saotome..." Ranma turned around and found himself looking at an impressive vein throbbing on the teacher's forehead, apparently insulted by Ranma's rude tone "...go out and stand in the hall."

* * *

Avoiding school had been one of the very rare advantages that Ranma felt he had gained from his odd condition. But somehow he had managed to end up being forced to go to school anyway, in spite of it. But then again, why he was even surprised? Shouldn't he know best to never believe that something was impossible? At the very least, he was quite an example of that!

Ranma sighed as he waited for the lesson to end. It definitely was better to stand outside in the hallway and hold a bucket of water over his head than to sit in the classroom and listen to the teacher's boring elucidations about weird graphics and two strange guys named sine and cosine. At least the punishment wasn't nearly as bad as Mr. Yamori thought it was for him. While holding a bucket may have been a torture for every other student, for Ranma however, it was not. His father used to force him to lift much more weight for even longer time. So the only punishment Ranma received was that he could not do anything else than stand there, trying to find some activity to beat his boredom.

* * *

Nabiki stared at the empty seat of a certain wanna-be samurai. She was not at all surprised about his absence. This morning one of her sources had told her that Kuno had forbidden the hentai-horde to challenge the 'demon' or her sister today and planned something like a surprise attack on Ranma.

Nabiki snorted. And he was the one who always praised himself for his great sense of honor all the time.

* * *

Just as Ranma decided to enjoy the few- and rather rare considering his lifestyle- uneventful minutes, the classroom door opened and someone joined him in the hallway. The certain someone cursed, as Ranma felt them trip over the bucket Ranma was holding, causing all the three of them to hit the ground.

Ranma got back up and found herself in a strange, dark place.

"Couldn't you have stood a little farther from the door?" she heard her fiancée say from her left with a somehow muffled voice. Ranma felt the weak tremor as Akane got to her feet. "No wonder someone might trip...uhm, Ranma?"

Finally, the little girl lifted the inverted bucket and answered: "Here tomboy." She tossed it away. "What are you doin' here?"

Akane spun around and was about to snap back, but stopped at the sight of a boy on the other side of the hallway.

Ranma followed her gaze and found Tatewaki Kuno looking at her with his bokken raised and an angry expression on his face. "An' what is _he_ doin' here?"

"Vile demon, prepare to be banished!" With that, Kuno completed his 'surprise' attack and charged his enemy, only to have his target avoid his strike again. Ranma landed on his sword and glared at him. The moment their eyes met, Kuno froze in place. Not that the ability to move would have saved him from Ranma's blows and the following unconsciousness. Just before everything went black in his mind, a realization hit him: The creature which just had knocked him out could not possibly be the same person as the demon from the previous day.

Ranma evaded Kuno's collapsing body as she landed back on the ground. "Gee, does this idiot never learn?"

She noticed Akane looking down at the boy's unmoving body in disgust. "Serves the jerk right."

Ranma looked down her body for the first time and squeezed the water out of her clothes. "Great, what am I gonna do now?"

"Just let him lay here. It's not unusual that he lays somewhere in school unconscious.", Akane replied, totally missing the other girl's point.

"No, I mean, where do I get some hot water?" said Ranma, irritated.

Suddenly, the door was slammed open and Mr. Yamori's head appeared. "What is all that noise about?" His eyes wandered from the spilled water and the bucket, to an bewildered looking Akane, to the soaked little girl and the unmoving form of Tatewaki Kuno. By the last sight, Mr. Yamori frowned. 'That explains everything'. Then something different crossed his mind and his eyes snapped back to the dripping dwarf. He could have sworn Ranma's hair had been black. Shaking his head, he got back to subject. That must have been just an imagination, maybe a sign of seniority.

"It seems you two can't be left alone. I would suggest you two come back in the classroom, where I can keep an eye of you." To his grievance, he heard the strange boy grunt in response. At first, Mr. Yamori assumed that the weird boy wouldn't become one of his favorite students, but now he was sure he didn't like him very much at all.

He turned towards Akane with a stern expression. "Mrs. Tendo, you have always been a good student and there is no need to change that."

Akane casted her gaze downwards. "I'm sorry."

"I hope so. Now take your seats and remain quiet during the lesson. If I hear one noise from either one of you, it will have dire consequences. Do you understand me?" the man said, glaring directly at Ranma during his question. He recieved another snort from the shrimp, while the girl answered with a faint: "Yes, Sir."

"Oh, and don't bother about Mr. Kuno here. It's not unusual that he lays somewhere in school, unconscious."

All the students head turned towards the door, as their teacher reentered the classroom.

"Mr. Saotome, you take the only unoccupied desk. I'm quite sure you will be able to find it on your own." Mr. Yamori said in an hostile tone as he remembered the reason for which he had punished him.

On the way to her desk, which was unfortunately in the back of the room next to a scary guy, general mumbling arose among the students she passed. During Ranma's absence, they had mainly wondered about his strange decision to attend school. Now, however, their whispers were caused by his appearance. Mr. Yamori had called this tiny girl 'Mr. Saotome.' Their teacher must be blind; even the students in the back of the room could not deny that this little creature was female, definitely not with such a healthy body like hers.

Yesterday, they had been forced to somehow overlook Ranma's condition and just take it for granted without a real explanation. And now there were even two Ranmas? No, this girl had to be the same person as the little boy from the two previous days; the same hairstyle even if a different color, the same clothes, and most importantly the same unique size, which was proof enough. Most of the class decided not to agonize further over the logic in all of this simply because it unseated all of the physical laws they had grown up with and had considered immutable.

Ranma jumped on her empty desk and sat down cross-legged on it, her head lowered so as to avoid the other student's stares. She was definitely the last one to be unaware of the reactions of people who were confronted with something they could not understand. They reached from curiosity about finding out how exactly this worked by treating him like an experiment-all the way to outright and complete rejection. But never something positive.

She briefly looked up, then dropped her gaze again. She didn't know what was worse, the students who pretended not to look at her but stare when they thought she wasn't looking, or the ones who turned their heads definitely away, fearing that if they were to meet her eyes they might get infected by her weirdness. No, going to school was something Ranma was not looking forward to at all.

* * *

Apart from the first lesson, math, the other morning lessons were the same as they had been the two previous days, so the morning's instruction was overall rather uneventful. Aside from Mr. Yamori, no teachers had even noticed her presence in the back of the room and held their instruction like always.

When the bell sounded, Ranma, Akane, and Akane's friends Yuka and Sayuri rushed out into the schoolyard, not minding if they stepped on the still unconscious Kuno or not. Upon arrival, the four girls seated themselves under their familiar tree again.

Akane rememebered that Yuka normally brought a thermos to school, since she insisted that it was impossible to enjoy lunch without a nice warm tea.

"Can I have a cup of your tea, Yuka?" Akane asked after meaningful look from the little boy-turned-girl.

"Sure Akane. Today's your lucky day; it's a special tea my aunt brought from England." Yuka said and handed her friend a steaming cup, only to suddenly notice something odd about Akane's question. "Since when do you like to drink tea during lunch break?"

"It's not for me, it's for Ranma here.", Akane replied before dumping the hot contents over the little girl's head.

Yuka jerked away violently and Sayuri dropped the piece of food she held with her chopsticks into her lap. Even if both of them figured that this tiny redhead must be Ranma, to see it confirmed was no less surprising.

Sayuri's shock didn't last long. "And that's..?"

"Jusenkyo curse." she heard the damp boy mutter in response. "Cold water turns me into a girl, warm back to a guy."

Swiftly, Sayuri grabbed her own water bottle and poured it over Ranma's head, causing him to change again "Hey, what-", her protest was cut off by a new wave of hot tea, also thrown by Sayuri. It seemed that the girl was not planning on stopping her experiment any time soon.

Akane and Yuka exchanged looks, concerned about their friend's sanity. Then Yuka sighed and said in a dramatic voice: "There goes my special tea."

Totally missing the other girl's comment, Sayuri asked: "What are you looking at me so strangely for? This is fun!" To prove her point, she once more dumped a cup of tea on the redhead, who looked far from amused.

* * *

The last subject for the day was Physical Education. Why it simply wasn't called sports was an unknown mystery to Ranma, probably to make it sound more professional. If he had been regular size, he supposed that he would have looked forward to that class. Now he treated it with the same indifference he showed towards school in general. Sure, he could easily outclass every ordinary boy his age, even with his disadvantage, but since this teacher seemed to have no clue about him as well Ranma just placed himself in the grass and watched the students on the soccer field.

The girls played baseball, while the boys were doing gymnastics on a horizontal bar. In Ranma's opinion, both parties would be happier if they exchanged which sports each group was playing.

Ranma looked up just in time to see the performing boy fail to grab hold of the bar again after a front swing and land face first in the sand underneath. A grin crept up to Ranma's lips, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

* * *

Daisuke spat the sand out of his mouth and tried to get back on his feet. Wobbly, but finally standing, he dusted himself off while he glared at his classmates, who had all broken down laughing at his much as he tried to, Daisuke couldn't really keep a straight face as he mentally pictured his own blunder. It sure must have looked totally stupid.

An amused smile played around the teacher's lips. "Thank you, Mr. Kato, for your...uh...extraordinary performance." His comment caused the class guffaw again. "Mr Shiomi, you're next."

Daisuke walked over to his friend Hiroshi and placed himself on the ground next to him. The red-faced Hiroshi punched his shoulder and pointed at Daisuke with a finger. "That was...the stupidest thing I've..ever seen." he barley managed to choke out between his laughter.

"Man, I suppose I will be getting made fun of for that for the rest of the year.", Daisuke replied playfully.

"You bet. It's my duty to make sure you never live it down.", Hiroshi said grinning.

Daisuke turned to watch Shiomi's humiliation with an attempt not much better than his own, as something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was now his turn to punch his friend in the shoulder as he pointed to a small red spot in the grass a few feet away from them. "This Saotome guy's pretty weird, isn't he?"

Hiroshi eyed the little boy for a few moments, then suddenly jumped to his feet. "Come on, this might be fun."

Daisuke gave his friend a skeptical look before he hurried to catch up with him. Together, the two walked towards their strange classmate.

* * *

Ranma snapped out of his daydream as he felt two presences approaching. One of the ki-signatures even felt familiar. He concentrated further and the remembered: That was the guy who had picked up him the previous day back in the classroom.

"Hey mite." he heard the culprit say. Ranma barely turned his head to look at the two boys. Both of them stood behind him with crossed arms and half threating, half amused expressions on their faces. 'Honestly', Ranma scowled. 'How many idiots were walking around this school?' Completely ignoring the two intruders, Ranma returned watching the girls' baseball game.

A few seconds the seconds the boys were silent, probably trading confused looks behind the shrimp's back, before they decided to take place on both of Ranma's sides. Again, the first guy began to speak: "Uhm...I'm Hiroshi, this guy here's Daisuke. And you're...uh...Ranma, right?"

In response, Ranma nodded barely perceptible. Apparently this Hiroshi guy was still convinced that Ranma would still be somewhat intimidated by the two boy's superior height, since he went on: "Maybe you didn't know, but Furinkan High is a pretty dangerous place...uh...for someone like you..."

The idiot to Ranma's right took over: "Yeah, and you could probably use some help with...uh...with for example...bullies! Yeah, with bullies, that's it."

Ranma sweatdropped. That was one of the stupidest excuses to hang out with him in order to find more out about his condition he had ever heard, especially since he was sure they had witnessed his victory over the hentai-horde and even twofold over Kuno.

He then cast the two boys appraising looks. As far he could tell, they were just two ordinary teens, not even very athletic. They probably possessed some pathetic martial artists skills, like some some boys tried to learn in order to impress their friends, at most. Both could barely stand up to a serious thug on their own, let alone protect someone. "I can take care of myself just fine."

As Ranma turned back to the game, Daisuke followed his gaze and ended up looking at a certain dark-haired girl. He nudged Hiroshi's shoulder and threw him a confused look. Like all the other students, both of them thought that the so called engagement between Ranma and Akane was just a joke or something. Or at least they hoped so. Akane's daily attackers and Kuno were not the only ones who were interested in her.

For a moment forgetting about the strange boy to his side, Hiroshi sighed. "Man, she's cute."

"Yeah...", Daisuke agreed and took the opportunity provided to nudge the tiny boy's shoulder with a knuckle. It felt weird, but Daisuke spoke anyhow, "...and you, you lucky guy, are engaged to her.", he joked.

"No way that tomboy's cute, she's a violent stomper with those tree trunk legs of hers.", Ranma interjected.

Hiroshi and Daisuke stared at him with shocked expressions. "She didn't!..did she?", "What! Really?"

Ranma just shrugged and again concentrated on the game while the two larger boys considered the information Ranma had just imparted to them. Akane may be one of the cutest girl in school, but the experience of being stomped by her was something neither of the two boys were keen on gaining. That Ranma was able to survive it obviously unharmed proved that he must be tougher than he looked.

While the two boys were still deep in thought, a baseball chose exact that moment to embed itself into Daisuke's cheek, hard.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!", Akane yelled across the field.

"Today is not my day..." the downed boy muttered.

* * *

"School's stupid." Ranma said for the twelfth time since the two had left the schoolyard.

Akane sighed and looked up to the fence. Ranma was getting kind of repetitious, so she decided to change the subject. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you know that we have to visit Dr. Tofu before we get home?"

"You mean this chiropractor guy?" At Akane's nod, Ranma continued hopefully: "You think he might know how to..." Instead of finishing his question he merely motioned to himself, which made his point clear just as well.

"Could be. He knows a lot about shiatsu points, so maybe he can help you that way.", Akane responded thoughtfully.

Ranma's expression brightened in an instant. "What are we waiting for, then?", he cheered over his shoulder before he took off and disappeared around the corner. Just as she was about to call after him, he reappeared with a slightly embarrassed countenance. "Uh...which way?"

* * *

Minutes later, Akane and a dripping redhead entered the waiting room of Dr. Tofu's clinic.

"Has this old granny got nothin' better to do than sweep the sidewalk all day?", the little girl grumbled. "I swear, she's got it in for me."

"Don't be so paranoid. You just got unlucky.", Akane said while she took the book Kasumi gave her that morning out of her satchel.

Ranma snorted at her response. "Unlucky, huh? I was walking on the fence."

the taller girl rolled her eyes and turned away from the shrimp. 'As if anyone would have an oath of vengeance on him.'

* * *

Somewhere in a dark forest a lone figure sneezed, causing his head to rock forward and hit a low branch. The branch broke, despite its 5 inch diameter.

"Damn you, Ranma, that is all your fault!"

* * *

On little boat in the middle of an ocean, a young girl with an extraordinary hair color sneezed. She wiped her nose. 'Somebody must be talking about me.', she muttered in Mandarin to herself.

* * *

All over the world, people (most of them located in Asia) sneezed in the exact same moment. Some of them didn't even know why. Yet.

* * *

"Ah, hello Akane, it's nice to see you. I'll be with you in a minute.", Tofu called from inside the clinic.

"All right, Dr. Tofu.", Akane answered with a faint blush on her face and sat down on a sofa. Ranma jumped on the empty seat next to her and continued to curse silently under his breath.

"...yes, Mr. Saotome. Until tomorrow then." Both teens perched up by the mention of Ranma's father just as Tofu hung up the phone and entered the waiting room. Apparently not noticing the little girl, he smiled at Akane and asked routinely: "So, where are you hurt today?"

"No injuries today. I'm just here to..." Ranma was surprised by the sad voice with which Akane finished her sentence "...give you back the book Kasumi borrowed."

"K-K-Kasumi?" The man's glassed fogged up as he suddenly stood straight up and got a goofy grin on his face.

After forcing the book into the doctor's trembling hands, Akane bowed her head in order to make it impossible for anyone to see her expression. Then she waited for Doctor Tofu to calm down again.

Suddenly, a weight settled onto her right shoulder and a demanding voice rose next to her ear. "Why were ya talkin' to my pop?"

In his current state, the doctor was incapable of thinking straight. "Because he is a nice man, really nice." he said in a dreamy, husky voice.

"Huh? What are y- hey, whatcha doin'?"

"I'm not your observing deck or something.", Akane scolded the little girl she held now in front of her face by the back of her red shirt. "You could ask permission first."

Tofu was snapped out of his lunatic state by the arguing girls in front of him and noticed Ranma for the first time. First his eyes grew wide, then he said, "I think I can see the reason for your visit." Akane and Ranma gave him strange looks. "I suppose we should go inside, where you can tell me, how this happened. I may be able to help you, Miss."

For some reason, the little girl winced by his last word. "Is anything wrong, Miss?", Tofu asked concerned.

Ranma shuddered once more. "Can I have some hot water first?" She was not really keen on being called _Miss_ while the doctor examined her.

Tofu was about to ask why, but decided against it and headed towards the kitchen instead. Luckily, there was some hot water left in the kettle he had prepared earlier for a cup of tea, so the task didn't take too long. He entered the treatment room, where he had offered his guests to wait and found Akane sitting on a chair next to the surgery couch on which her strange companion sat.

He didn't know why, but every time Tofu looked at the little girl he felt like something should occur to him. Somehow she reminded him of something he had heard about not too long ago. The water in his hand just strengthened the feeling. And then that phone call with this Mr. _Saotome_...

Suddenly Tofu snapped his fingers, startling the two girls. He turned towards the redhead and walked over to her "May I- just to be sure..." he muttered more to himself then to the confused shorty before he poured some of the cup's contents over her head. Even if it was not in life-size, the famous Jusenkyo-transformations about which he had heard so much, were more fascinating than the stories had promised.

"No doubt then..." Tofu said to the dripping boy in front of him, "...you must be Ranma Saotome."

"How did-" Ranma began, but Akane cut him off.

"You two know each other? Ranma, why didn't you tell me?"

Tofu chuckled briefly then spoke up. "No, we have never met before so I would be surprised if he had heard of me." By the puzzled looks he revised, he explained further: "Do you remember Mr. Kǔèl? He's someone I met on my journeys and we still keep in touch via phone. In one of our calls he told me about his newest patient, the most special he had ever had the honor of examining. It seems, that I now have the honor turned on me as well."

Ranma mood dropped. Great, that was the last thing he had wished for; to be known by all doctors as a special case.

"Do I have to stay here for two weeks as well?", he asked the smiling man while he tried unsuccessfuly to leave the fury out of his voice, "For some of of your experiments or crap like that?" At least, Ranma figured, there was still a chance that this guy might be able to help him, and since he already knew Ranma's story it would make things easier.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but if Mr. Kǔèl was not able to cure you, neither am I. He taught me most of the things I know about magic, so he's the specialist, not me. And unfortunately, shiatsu points can't really help you in this case." Tofu explained.

"It's worth a try, though." Akane asserted.

Tofu sadly shook his head. "It's dangerous to mix magic with physical body manipulation. It is possible to dispel magic with the proper shiatsu points, but with an unknown condition such as yours, the outcome could be worse than it already is, if I would try some various cures without knowing precisely the type of magic effect cast on you."

Tofu adjusted his glasses and went in full doctor mode. "And for the Jusenkyo curse I'm sorry I cannot help you with that either. Natural magic, as Mr. Kǔèl likes to call it, does not obey the usual laws. It has nothing in common with the amazons' or anyone else's magic, it's something that exists as long as recorded history can think back. It is uncontrollable but keeps the world in order, as well as it disturbs it sometimes...well... I think there is a very easy example. Though not realized as such, love is actually the most commonly known natural magic."

Ranma cast his eyes downwards and clenched his fist. He had already known that there was no cure for the Jusenkyo curse. But at least he had hoped to get rid of his other problem. And now this doctor was telling him that his hopes and dreams were best forgotten.

Apparently the doctor was not finished, as he went on: "However, there is also some good news. Mr. Kǔèl informed me that he continued to work on the cure for the unnatural magic since you left him. In his opinion, there is even a good chance that he is capable of fabricating one, it will only take some time."

Ranma's head jerked up. "What? Are ya serious, doc?" At Tofu's nod, Ranma jumped to his feet and began to laugh triumphantly.

"Hahahahaha! I gonna be cured! No more dirty soles in my face! Hahahahahahaha!"

Tofu and Akane sweatdropped.

* * *

Author spiel: Again a different ending. I hope that doesn't becomes habit. Anyway, reviews are appreciated, suggestions are welcome.


	6. Chapter: Collateral damage

If you ever wanted to know a German word: heiligenschein means exact the same in German as in English.

Version: 1.3

Chapter 6: Collateral damage

* * *

The rain pounded heavily against the windows of Furinkan High, causing a form laying in a dark hallway to stir. The first things that Tatewaki Kuno perceived as he opened his eyes were the pain in his body from his uncomfortable position on the ground, a painfully throbbing lump on his head and the question, "Where am I?"

He managed to get to his feet and scanned his dark surroundings. As he recognized them as his school, another image flashed through his still dazed mind: a red- haired, tiny goddess standing with unnatural grace on his bokken.

With that memory Kuno finally regained full control over his senses. If such a beauteous being was wandering around in this world, he had to help her reach her obvious goal. This deity was probably sent down from heaven as reward for his own greatness. How could he deny such a generous gift? And not to forget about the danger she was in since her presence might be reason for the demon's as well! He had to find her, no matter what.

Kuno slammed the main door open and exited the building. Nothing would prevent him from searching for his goddess, not even the horrible downpour which currently flooded the streets of Nerima.

In less then a second Kuno was soaked to his bones. Or maybe it could prevent him... Shivering, he raised his bokken to the rumbling clouds and corrected himself: nothing would prevent him from searching for his goddess tomorrow.

With that he took off toward his warm and dry residence.

* * *

The next morning Ranma's cheerful mood was still present. The prospect of a cure so soon boosted his confidence so much that during their morning sparring he made his father look like a absolute beginner. At breakfast he apparently was oblivious to the fact that he somehow ate as much as Nabiki and to the subsequent stares from the Tendo family members. Simultaneously, they all asked themselves the same question: Where did all that food disappear to?

His good mood was not even effected by the old lady's splash attempt, after which he usually was cursing under his breath. Today, however, the water was evaded with ease.

Just as he and Akane (Nabiki had left earlier than they had, as usual) arrived at school, the first hints of a brief scowl went over his features at the sight of the charging Kuno. This time Akane had the favor of interrupting the boy's love declarations toward Akane and death oaths against Ranma with a well-placed uppercut. He again crashed against the tree and slumped down, once again unconscious.

As for the lessons, they were almost the same as the ones from the the previous days, meaning that Ranma spent most of the time snoring on his desk. Although most of the teachers seemed to be aware of his presence today, they also had no clue about how to deal with him, so they rather preferred to ignore him.

One awkward situation arose in chemistry as they learned about the law of conservation of mass. The class kept stealing quick glances at the sleeping boy in the back of the classroom during the whole lesson while the teacher began to sweat heavily. For some reason, her explanations sounded less convincing than usual, even to herself.

* * *

"So what do you want?" Nabiki took a short sip from her coffee and gave the boy seated opposite from her a long look. "You already got the latest pictures yesterday. Aside from copies, I have nothing new to offer. You have to wait for next week."

Kuno forced a smile. It always was expensive to get something from the middle-aged Tendo girl, especially information. But at least they proved to be always true and unaffected by various rumors. She sure was the best source when it came to information.

He pulled out a large wand of notes, twenty five one thousand yen notes to be exact, and placed them on the table in front of him. "I must confess, your offer is very tempting. Thus have I another reason for calling you here. Today I shall be satisfied with mere information on another matter."

Nabiki tried to keep a straight face by the amount of money in front of her nose. Years of practice helped her to reply with a cool and emotionless voice. "I see. And that would be?"

"About the red-haired nymph I was honored to set my eyes on yesterday. Is there anything you might know of the beauteous goddess?"

She knew only one redhead. "You're not talking about Ranma, are you?", she blurted out brashly.

"It seems that your contract with the devil provides you information that is beyond any normal person." Kuno levelled his gaze at her.

"Flattering", Nabiki chided dryly.

"But tell me, what does she have to do with this vile demon?" Kuno asked, confused though still with an edge of anger in his voice.

Maybe it was the effect of the 25000 yen on the table, but something prevented Nabiki from thinking through things before answering. "You see, Ranma has a curse with forces him to change into a female when he is hit with cold water. Hot water reverses the change."

He gave her a partly doubting, partly enraged look. "I refuse to believe such a unbelievable story. Not even the most powerful of oni would be capable of taking form of of a pure creature as beautiful as the deity. No, that is impossible."

"If you don't believe me then just pour some cold water on your _demon_. That should convince you." Nabiki replied calmly and raised her mug to her lips again.

"Then that shall be my goal for now; to prove you wrong.", he said dramatically. He then cast her an almost concerned look. Almost. "Apparently your mind is already effected by the demon's presence as well. For your own safety, I suggest you try to stay away from the oni before you fall for his dark magic completely." Ignoring the girl's snort and her coughing, he got up. "Now I have some doubts to remove, a demon to punish and a fair maiden to rescue." With that he left.

Nabiki glared after him. Well, his ignorance was not her problem, was it? A mischievous smile found its way on her lips. She would be even willing to pay for seeing the idiot's face the moment he found out that the 'ed-haired nymph and the demon were one and the same.

As she regarded the large wand of notes her smile vanished in instant as a realization struck her. If Kuno was as obsessed with Ranma as he was with her younger sister, then...

The other people in the café turned their heads to stare at the brown-haired girl just as her own head connected with the table. Hard.

* * *

Ryoga sighed.

Three years. For almost three years now he had chased after his rival in an effort to make him pay for his cowardice back then when he had fled from their man-to-man fight. And in those three years he had only gained more reasons to hate him and tear him apart upon their first encounter. He felt the anger rise within himself as he thought back to the hell his nemesis had put him through. No, Ranma Saotome would soon know what real pain felt like and he, Ryoga Hibiki would gladly be the one who showed him. When he was finally able to lay his hands-

"Bwee!"

"Ow, dammit! Look where ya stompin'!"

Just as he had rounded the corner someone had run into him and caused both to hit the pavement. 'Wooden floor', Ryoga corrected himself, a little confused. He quickly jumped back up to see who had just knocked him off his feet. And then he froze.

There, in front of him, sitting on the ground with closed eyes and rubbing his head, was the one person whose guts Ryoga had learned to hate over the past three years: Ranma Saotome.

Ryoga's fury set every cell in his body on fire by the sight of his rival. He clenched his fist and roared in anger: "Ranma, prepare to die!"

Or rather, that's what he wanted to roar. All that Ranma could see and hear, however, was a black piglet with which he had collided, pawing the ground and letting out an enraged "Bwee!".

"Huh? A pig?" The tiny boy wondered aloud.

'Pig?' The word echoed in Ryoga's ears. How dare this bastard insult him? Though after a few seconds it occurred to him that Ranma was right. Ryoga was currently in his cursed form thanks to an old lady and her ladle from a few blocks ago.

'Wait a minute'... Ryoga thought for a moment. If he was a pig right now, then why was he looking Ranma in the eyes?

"Oi, Akane! What's that little porker doin' here?", the boy in front of him shouted over his shoulder.

"Porker?" Ryoga's head perked up as a girl rounded the corner with a confused expression. She caught sight of him and asked: "Where did that piglet come from?"

"Dunno, I just wanted to hit the dojo when it ran into me." Ranma shrugged as he answered.

For a few moments Ryoga was only capable of shifting his stare between Ranma and the by-comparison giant girl before his rage returned with full force. Right now it did not matter that he apparently was in some building without a clue how he had managed to end up in it, it did not matter that a strange girl was watching, Ranma's strange size did not matter either and it certainly did not matter at all that he, himself, was just a pig at that moment. Nothing would prevent him from taking revenge for everything Ranma had put him through! Not now after he had finally found him!

With another furious "Bwee!" Ryoga tackled the surprised pigtailed boy with all strength he could muster, knocking them both sprawling to the ground once more. He placed himself on top of his opponent and slammed his hooves violently at every part of Ranma's unprotected body he was able to reach with his short legs.

His assault, however, did not have the hoped-for effect, meaning that in return Ryoga felt the breath knocked out of him as a well-placed, powerful kick to his guts sent him flying a few feet back down the floor. Ryoga hit the ground hard. He grit his teeth from the pain but suppressed it with all his willpower and jumped back on his four feet, ready for a new attack.

"Hmm...it doesn't seem to like you very much", Akane mused as she watched the scene playing out around her feet with great interest. Her countenance was reminiscent of someone stuffing thier face with popcorn while watching a gripping blockbuster.

"You don't hafta tell me," Ranma growled in annoyance as he dodged another of the black piglets' hoof strikes, then counterattacked immediately. "I've done nothin' to that stupid piggy!"

Unknown to both humans, Ranma's words caused Ryoga to roar inwardly. He felt the desire to snap at the boy, to yell something like: "Playing dumb again, you bastard? I'll show you what you have done to me!" But again all escaping words ended up as rather distraught sounding squeals.

Growing more and more desperate with every fruitless attack and every new bruise he gained, Ryoga frantically looked around in hope for some help that might give Ranma his well deserved beating. Ryoga grew more and more frustrated as he realized that he currently was not able to give that beating to his rival.

Just as Ranma's counter sent him several feet back again, Ryoga spotted an unprotected steaming cup standing on a table in the room to his right. Ryoga hesitated. Sure, his cursed form's strength was pathetic compared to his usual and he was confident that he could squash Ranma in seconds once he changed back, but changing right in front of his rival's eyes also meant revealing his greatest weakness. Ryoga was not certain that Ranma knew about Jusenkyo but the odds were rather high, since he had visited the springs once as well. Unfortunately, the urge to see Ranma suffer overpowered Ryoga's concern that his enemy would learn of his weak spot, so Ryoga's hesitation lasted only a fraction of a second. The black piglet swiftly leaped on the table and tackled the cup, causing its hot contents to trigger the wished-for transformation. Quickly making use of his almost perfected clothes-from-subspace-withdrawing and rapid-dressing techniques, Ryoga turned back, this time facing Ranma as a more than worthy challenge.

Akane shrieked and jumped away from the boy, who had replaced the little animal, while Ranma was only capable of gaping up at his now-towering-over-him opponent with a bewildered expression.

Ryoga looked down at the pathetic form of his rival and a kind of satisfactory sensation spread through his body. Apparently some deities up there knew some justice and had already punished Ranma. Still, it was not enough for Ryoga's taste. Now his time of revenge had arrived, allowing him to finally make Ranma pay for the hell he put him through.

"Wha-" Ranma tried to ask but the other boy cut him off.

"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!", he cried and slammed his fist through the wooden floor as Ranma was barely able to avoid the blow. "Running away was the only thing you ever did", Ryoga shouted as he attempted to hit Ranma again but ended up smashing another hole.

"Stop wrecking our house!" Akane yelled, enraged so much that for a few seconds she forgot all about the strange boy's transformation. Her protests were totally ignored. Ryoga just created a third hole as he attacked the diminutive target.

Ranma put some distance between the mad Ryoga and himself by jumping into the yard, landing on one of the stones that surrounded the pond. Outside, he figured, the fight would not cause as much damage as inside. Furthermore, it provided him some time to adjust himself to his new opponent. He opened his mouth to attempt his question once more, but was interrupted again.

"Ranma, where are you?" Ryoga questioned while he turned his head in every direction in search of Ranma, still somehow failing to spot him outside. "Hiding has no use, you won't escape me this time!"

With that, Ryoga took off running in the opposite direction of Akane, who was glaring at him down the hallway.

"Akane, would your friend like some tea?" Kasumi asked sweetly as she rounded the corner with a tea service, just as the mad boy made his departure by simply walking through the wall.

* * *

"Ranma, who was that guy?", Akane asked the boy, who sat next to her tea cup on the table. Outside in the hallway, Kasumi was cleaning up some of the debris.

Ranma just sat there, his arms crossed and his eyes closed, apparently tying very hard to remember something. Just as Akane was about to lose her patient, his eyes suddenly snapped open and his fist meet his palm. "I remember now! He was in the same class as me back in my old school. I think his name's Hibiki-something. Hibiki Ryoga." Ranma chuckled. "Long since I've seen him last."

"Being an old classmate of yours can hardly be a reason to attack you and destroy half of our house in progress." Akane gave him a blaming look. "You must have done something horrible to him for him to react like that. Did you push him into one of the Jusenkyo springs? He was a pig at first, after all."

"Hey, I never pushed hat nutcase into any spring, he must have- wait a minute." As the realization struck him, Ranma broke down laughing, unable to finish his previous sentence. "Hahahaha- he turns into a pig, hahahaha, a stupid little piggy-"

"Firstly", Akane interrupted him, "you're not that much taller than the pig and secondly, your own curse is pretty laughable for a guy as well."

Ranma's laughter died down in instant from her statement. He huffed in a hurt fashion and turned away as if she had just insulted him.

"So what did you do to him?" Akane pressed further.

Ranma pouted, then faced the taller girl once more. "I dunno. Back then, I used to lead him to school and then back to his house. That guy's got the worst sense of direction you can imagine."

"Come on, his sense of direction can't be that bad", Akane said in disbelief.

Ranma cocked a tiny eyebrow at her "Oh yeah?" A brief nod of his head toward the hole in the hallway, however, was enough for her to just drop the subject.

"Anyway, we were pretty good friends in the past, I guess. Well, if you don't count some...dissentions, that is." He then coughed and muttered something under his breath what strangely enough sounded somewhat like "bread".

Bread? Akane shook her head. What would bread have to do with it?

After another few minutes of thinking, Ranma went on. "Four days before my pop dragged me off to China, Ryoga challenged me to a duel, 'cause, for some reason, he believed he could beat me." Ranma snorted at this while he ignored the girl to his right who rolled her eyes at his arrogance. "So I waited for him to show up for three days. Seriously, this nutcase wasn't even able to find the fightin' place he had chosen himself. An' it was just 'bout 500 meters away from his own house. Well, that was the last thing I heard of Ryoga, I never met him on any of my journeys."

Okay now, being not able to find a familiar place only 500 meters distant to ones own house was hard to believe for Akane though the ultimate proof of a terrible sense of direction. "I doubt that something like that would prompt him to threaten your life. It must have something to do with that curse of his, I mean how else did he get it?"

Ranma snickered at the memory of the little black piglet which Ryoga turned into, then opened his mouth to defend himself. "Gee, I haven't done nothin' to piss him off that badly. An' as I was sayin', I haven't met him on any of my journeys, neither at Jusenkyo. This moron must have gotten lost an' ended up there all by himself."

"How can someone get lost and find oneself in China again?", Akane wondered aloud.

Ranma simply shrugged. "As I was sayin'. Bad sense of-"

"-direction. Okay, okay, I get the point."

A sudden "I'm home!" shout interrupted their conversation. Seconds later, Nabiki entered the room and joined them at the table. Her gaze was glued at the three holes in the wooden floor visible from her position as she reached for a rice cracker. Expect for very rare occasions, not even a look of slight irritation would dare to cross Nabiki Tendo's features. So her current expression showed rather than confusion a rather mild interest. Maybe even mixed up with a little bit of anger.

"I see. So Kuno already made his appearance."

Akane and Ranma's countenances, on the other hand, showed their confusion of her words immediately. "Kuno?", they both chorused.

Nabiki merely cocked an eyebrow at them. "He hasn't been here yet? That's strange... Then how come there are three holes in our floor and one of our walls is missing?"

"That was someone from Ranma's past, who wanted to take revenge for some unknown or stupid reason", Akane quickly answered for the little boy. "What does this have to do with Kuno, Nabiki?"

Nabiki took a bite of her cracker. "I just told him about Ranma's curse, since he asked me if I knew anything about a red-haired beauty of feminine deities." She smirked as Ranma looked at first puzzled, then paled by the dawning realization. "I'm going to be sick", she heard him mutter disgustedly.

"Since Kuno couldn't believe me, he instantly dashed off in order to prove me wrong. So I figured he would show up here and throw some water at you. I wonder what is keeping him..."

Meanwhile in a little forest in the middle of Tokyo...

"Where the hell is he?"

"Methought, thou knew where the vile demon is currently hiding."

"I didn't say that, why are you following me?"

"In hope of gaining an ally, I permitted thou to sojourn in my stunning presence. But it seems, such a disoriented moron as yourself would only be hindrance than a help in a fight against the evil one."

"What did you just call me?"

"A disoriented moron, I shall repeat for your apparently deaf ears."

"DIE!"

* * *

On Monday, Akane and Ranma walked to school again after a rather uneventful weekend. Uneventful for Ranma, who had spent most of his time training in the dojo without spending a single thought on Ryoga. Uneventful for Akane, who had trained most of the time as well, but while doing so she had kept stealing glances toward the little boy. Even if she would not admit it out loud, she was extremely jealous of his great skill in the art. It was just so unfair that some boy was that much better in something where only a week ago she'd believed no one except her father was able to hold a candle to her. Also uneventful but productive for Kasumi. She- beside her usual duties and providing the two men glued to their positions in front of the shogi board- had sewn a few new shirts and pants for Ranma.

The weekend was even more uneventful than Nabiki had expected. The last time she had seen Kuno was in the café, where he had declared his disbelief in Ranma's gender-curse and had run off. Since then, there had been no sign of the master of morons or any sign of his announced attempt to splash Ranma, a fact which was rather unsettling to Nabiki.

Ranma and Akane arrived at the school grounds and walked over to the main entrance. On their way no one attacked them as it seemed that Kuno was absent again today and the boys from Akane's usual reception committee were nowhere to be seen as well. Without Kuno at their backs either the lack in confidence or the lack of any pressure from him prevented them from assaulting the blue-haired girl like they always had before. Or maybe they just were freaked out by Ranma, or scared of a beating. Whatever the reason was, they were absent too.

Just as Akane was about to enter the building, she heard a somewhat familiar voice yell over the school grounds.

"Ranma!"

Both twirled around. Covered in dust and with a backpack as well as with an unconscious Kuno slung over his shoulders, Ryoga Hibiki stood and glared down at the boy at Akane's feet. He didn't look happy.

Instead of cringing under Ryoga's intense glare, Ranma approached his former friend with a confident smirk. "Oi, Ryoga, how've you been?"

Ryoga's features hardened as his eyes followed his rival's movements. He carelessly tossed Kuno to the ground and merely tensed up. Even thought Ranma looked pathetic, he knew better than to underestimate him. After all he had already been forced to endure some of Ranma's kicks and after three full days he still felt them.

Ranma's smirk grew, as he failed to notice the other boy's aggressive stance. "I'm pretty impressed that we meet again in such a short time. Did that moron help you?", he teased and motioned toward the unconcious form of Kuno laying where Ryoga had thrown him.

"Shut up!" Ryoga yelled furious. "Stop chit-chatting and take responsibly for the things you put me through. This time I going to make you pay!"

Like on their last encounter, Ranma was totally taken aback by Ryoga's hostility. "Gee, could you at least tell me why you are so damn pissed of at me? I couldn't do nothin' 'bout my pop draggin' me to China after the third day and you seriously can't still be crying about that bread..."

Ryoga narrowed his eyes and shortened the distance further until only 5 meters remained between him and the shrimp. Behind Ranma, Akane nervously stepped from one foot to the other, unsure if she should try to prevent a fight between the two or not. The other boy really looked like he wanted to squash Ranma like a tiny insect.

"...and your curse ain't my fault either, you know, you turning into a-"

CRASH

A red umbrella crashed into the ground where Ranma had been only moments ago and shattered the stone underneath. Ranma landed lightly on its shaft and looked at the little crater with some awe. The umbrella might have missed its target, however, it still accomplished two of it three goals, namely to avert Ranma from saying that exact word and to distract him. Not even Akane shouting "look out!" saved Ranma from the follow-up attack as Ryoga closed the distance with a quick leap, pulled his weapon out of the ground with his left hand and closed his right fist around Ranma who was caught off-guard by the speed and sheer ferocity of Ryoga's maneuver.

Akane watched in horror as the taller boy attempted to squash Ranma to death with a satisfied glint in his eyes. She knew that she had to do something to help the defenseless boy but she was too shocked to even move an inch.

Suddenly Ryoga's expression changed as Ranma began to squirm and struggle against his hold. At first Ryoga's face became a snide grin at the wimpy resistance, then his eyes widened in surprise. Even with all of the strength Ryoga could muster, Ranma still managed to push his fingers further and further apart with every passing second. Realizing that he would soon lose his foe, Ryoga cried out in frustration. He slammed his palm on the ground before his opponent was able to break his death grip, pressing the little boy against the stone time with all of his weight. He grinned, delighted, as he heard his hated enemy suffer from the blow- the scream of pain was music to his ears. Once again his smile didn't last long. Ranma continued to push with unbelievable force against his palm and lifted Ryoga's hand a few inches. This left him just enough room to roll out from under it and free himself. Ranma promptly jumped away before Ryoga could grab him a second time, then dropped to one knee, panting. At least he was now convinced that his former friend was not joking.

Ryoga quickly got over his surprise and again took a stance, ready for another attack. Shakily Ranma got back to his feet and then got into a fighting stance as well while he forced his breathing to slow down. He didn't want to show Ryoga how much effort the act of freeing himself had required. Ryoga's strength was monstrous.

Ryoga on the other hand seemed to be quite satisfied with Ranma's signs of exhaustion, despite his frustration about the fact that the little boy had managed to escape his grip. He, again, had underestimated Ranma greatly. Still, his attack had left some impact, which his enemy was trying to hide in vain.

A snide grin reappeared on Ryoga face and he swung his umbrella like a bat. Even with Ranma's admittedly quite awkward condition, there was no way he would go easy on him. Not that he had considered doing so any way. His hand whipped to his head and withdrew a few bandannas which he began twirling like propellers. "Are you tired already, Ranma? What's the matter you little dwarf, can't beat me anymore?" Ryoga watched with delight as Ranma's tiny features hardened.

Ranma merely tensed up from Ryoga's taunting. A few years ago it had always been the other way round, with him mocking the other boy. With his regular size he was positive that he could have beaten his former friend quite easily. With that damned handicap however, it was a different story. And Ryoga didn't look like he was going to take it easy on him because of his disadvantage, not that Ranma had expected him to.

"Now it's time for payback!", Ryoga yelled, "Take this!"

Ranma watched with a questioning look as the red umbrella sailed almost one meter above him, missing its target completely. Either Ryoga's aim was as lousy as his sense of direction or this attack was again only a distraction. The unspoken question was answered as he turned his head back to Ryoga just in time to jump over a bandanna, thrown like a shuriken. Ranma thanked the heavens that he had not tried to catch it out of reflex since it was also as sharp as a shuriken. The clean cut in his shirt from the second projectile, which he had barely avoided in midair, made this point quite clear. No, catching would definitely not have been a good idea.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Ranma saw Ryoga running toward him, apparently planing to finish his combo with a quick powerful punch. Ranma smirked. A running punch was easy to counter, even in midair. He braced himself, just as his eyes automatically followed the last yellow-black blur that missed him again only by inches.

And his mind froze.

A few meters behind him stood Akane with a countenance torn between concern and anger. She again wanted to warn Ranma of Ryoga's approaching punch, but she'd just realized that the red umbrella and the bandannas were flying directly at her. She was only able to raise her hands protectively and cover her chest with her arms before the first weapon reached her.

The scream of pain never reached Ranma's ears as in the exact moment his own body slammed into the concrete wall of the school, causing the crash from his impact to swallow every other sound. He slid down the wall, not even feeling the pain from the brutal punch. The picture of Akane's arm being crushed was still burned in his mind. He got back on his feet and spotted her apparently unconscious form lying a few meters away from him. He thought it strange that he didn't feel horrible for getting her involved. In fact, he felt nothing at all. His mind had gone completely numb.

He jumped over to her in order to check if she was, against all odds, all right. His mental numbness turned into horror as he landed and the hot blood that flowed out from several deep cuts in her arms and shoulder promptly soaked his shoes. Desperately he realized that she needed medical attention immediately, before the loss of blood caused worse than just unconsciousness. But with his size he wasn't able to lift and carry her to a clinic all by himself. He needed help, he needed...

Despite the urgency of the situation, Ranma slowly turned to face Ryoga, who was still in mid-punch and gaping at the injured girl. Not once in his entire life had Ranma had ever felt so much hate towards one person as right now. Scenes of ripping out every single one of Ryoga's body parts and beating him until he was only able to crawl away crossed his mind. He swallowed. No, first this bastard was going to help him bring Akane to a doctor.

"Ryoga!", Ranma hissed with barely contained fury. He gritted his teeth, forcing out his next words. "Help me carry her to a doctor."

As Ryoga didn't budge an inch, Ranma's panic overpowered the hostility in his voice: "Dammit, we have to get her to a clinic or she'll bleed to death!"

Finally with Ranma's words Ryoga's senses apparently returned to the tall boy and without a complaint he quickly walked over to Akane, not looking at Ranma by his feet once. With a blank expression he lifted her carefully in his arms and gave Ranma a little nod, motioning for him to lead the way.

With Ryoga close on his heels, Ranma headed as fast as he could towards the only clinic he knew of: Doctor Tofu's clinic.

* * *

Author spiel: Delay.

Or is it a delay? I thought about that question and realized something. I'm very sorry for saying this but I'm not writing this little story for you. No, I'm not. This is only written for my own amusement. Ok, I admit writing in English doesn't really support that argument, though. But I'm somewhat stressed out by authors, who post their stories even if they are crappy and in the end do it the "I take hostages" way and say if you don't review, I won't continue. Every time I read a sentence similar to this my tendency to leave one decreases drastic. Are they just writing to hear from everyone such how a good work they did? Anyway, stories without good-review-obsessed authors are usually more elaborated. Don't get me wrong, I, myself, love getting reviews, I leap at every single one, but this is not the point of writing a story. Or rather should not be.

Oh, I'm digressing. Any way, what is was trying to say is that this is not a delay. It just proves, that I apparently didn't really felt like writing or typing sometimes.


	7. Chapter: Recovery and Cure

AN: A little warning: this chapter is (in my opinion) pretty boring or rather the lack of action is. It was necessary to introduce some things, though.

Version: 1.2

Chapter 7: Recovery and Cure

Ranma aimlessly wandered through the empty streets. Since Akane's hospitalization this had been his pastime for the previous three mornings. Going to school had been pointless to him before and now with Akane absent, why should he waste his time there? However, the reason for him pacing around outside instead of him pacing in the dojo was Kasumi. With only one innocent look, she had made it clear to Ranma that she disapproved of him cutting school. Since he doubted the teachers would inform her about his absence (if they even noticed) he only had to wait for school to be over before he could visit Akane in the hospital. If he visited Akane before school was over, Ranma worried that she she might mention his too-early visits to her older sister.

Unfortunately, these walks gave him plenty time to think, and thinking about the recent happenings was something he really did not enjoy doing. One thought in particular was bothering him ever since Ryoga had carried Akane to Doctor Tofu's clinic. After three days Ranma had still not managed to get it out of his head.

It was true that Akane would not have gotten injured if it had not been for Ryoga in the first place. But what if Ryoga had just run off, leaving it to Ranma to take Akane to a doctor? What if the next time something happened to her no one else was around, but him? Ryoga had been the one who saved Akane from bleeding to death, not him, Ranma reasoned. He had not been able to prevent Ryoga from throwing the umbrella and the bandannas, he had not been able to lift Akane and carry her to a clinic, he had been completely useless at the time. Useless, because one unfortunate meeting with a Chinese amazon.

His mind finally got occupied by something else as he threw a quick glance toward a clock posted in a shop window nearby. In five minutes school would let out, meaning for him he could return to the Tendo dojo without earning a disappointed look from the eldest girl. He decided against heading home immediately, though, and walked in the general direction of Furinkan High. Before he visited Akane, he wanted to make sure that none of her classmates planned on doing so. With him in the same room as them outside from school, they would probably end up staring at him for a while, then asking him all kind of questions concerning his strange appearance the whole time instead of wishing Akane a "get well" like they should.

He neared school and noted with relief that nobody was headed toward the hospital. Which, when he thought about it, was not that surprising since until yesterday only five people apart from those involved and the family actually knew about what happened to Akane. Ranma waited for a few moments, watching the students file out of the school gate beneath him. What was particularly surprising was that Akane's absence seemed to be the hot topic among the other students, especially the boys. Many of them made wild guesses about her whereabouts.

However, being interested and finding out about them were two different stories. Still, there were three simple ways of finding out. The first was very unlikely to happen, the second too expensive for any normal person to afford and the third was too much an inconvenience for the most. Kuno had chosen the second possibility, meaning buying the information from Nabiki, and was therefore one of the few people who knew where Akane was. That day Ranma had found a rather annoyed Akane laying in her hospital bed, often noticeably shifting her glance toward the bouquet of roses that had apparently been shoved into the dustbin at the other side of the room with an immense amount of force.

Since the first method consisted of simply walking into the hospital and finding out by coincidence, which indeed was very unlikely to happen, Ranma was pretty sure that Sayuri, Yuka, Hiroshi and Daisuke were the only other four enlightened with Akane's current whereabouts. Yesterday, as Ranma was on his way to the hospital to pay Akane a visit, the two girls had spotted him on the fence and promptly nailed him with questions. After he told them where Akane currently was and that he was on his way to see her, they both had insisted on accompanying him to the hospital. The two boys, who had overheard their conversation, decided to tag along as well. Why Hiroshi and Daisuke had been keen on seeing Akane has been a mystery to Ranma. After all, they hardly ever seemed to talk to her during school anyway. He shrugged and merely led the way.

Yesterday's visit could have been a quite enjoyable one. The four teens were more used to Ranma's weird condition than the other students, so Ranma felt more comfortable in their presence and for their part, most of the attention had been on Akane. It could have been quite enjoyable, if it hadn't been for the the unexpected visitor only minutes after they themselves had arrived.

The question of exactly how Ryoga had managed to find his way back to the hospital after only two days was left unanswered. The fanged boy had ignored the five confused looks and the one death wishing glare and just walked over to Akane's bed. After nervously putting a vase of flowers on her nightstand, he had fallen on his knees and had bowed several times, so deep that his nose had almost touched the floor. And he apologized. As simple as that. He had told her how terribly sorry he was for her getting injured and had acted all guilty. Ranma's blood still ran cold at that memory. He had even been ready to pound that bastard to unconsciousness for such pathetic begging at that moment. And what was even worse, Akane's reaction was completely the opposite of what Ranma had been expecting.

Despite throwing her female friends a glare as they had sighed how romantic this all was and despite the chill that had accompanied her words, Akane had forgiven him.

Ranma had expected her to yell at Ryoga the next time she saw him or to get violent like he had experienced several times before, sparing him the task of beating the crap out of Ryoga himself. But she had plainly and simply forgiven him after all Ryoga had done to her, after he had given her a life-threatening injury and put her in the hospital. All with the excuse that it had been an accident. After all, she said, why would Ryoga have carried her to a clinic afterwards if his attack had been intentional?

After hearing those words Ranma had simply left via the window before he would have lost it and started another fight with Ryoga in Akane's room. The fact that Akane had forgiven him was bad enough alone but the reason for it sickened him. Ryoga had carried Akane to the doctor, who had called the ambulance, just because he had been the only one capable of doing so at that time. Akane's justification of forgiving Ryoga combined with Ranma's feelings of uselessness -that Akane's statement had thrown in his face- was making Ranma feel angry, hurt, and guilty all at the same time. Not for the first time, Ranma found himself wishing that he had just allowed himself to be hit instead.

That evening, as the Tendo family had prepared to visit their nestling together, Ranma pretended not to hear Kasumi's call. He did not really feel like seeing Akane that day for a second time. However, instead of training like they believed him to be doing, he had spent most of the time pacing in the dojo and trying to figure out what could probably cause Akane to react the way she had. After hours and hours, long after the others had returned, the only explanation that he could come up was that the head injury might have inflicted more damage on her brain than previously assumed. To put it simply; he had absolutely had no clue why.

Ranma turned his attention back toward his surroundings and noticed that his feet had apparently found their way to the hospital on their own. He looked up to the great white building, searching for Akane's window. If he had not left through it the previous day, he probably would have never recognized it from outside. Her white curtains were not that different from all the others. Hoping that it really was the fifth from left of the second story, Ranma hopped on the nearby tree, bouncing from branch to branch until he was high enough and simply leaped on the windowsill.

His father had never taken him to a hospital before, even if he had had a broken bone or an illness. He had always said a true martial artist stood above things such as injuries and then just ordered Ranma to train even harder or taught him how he could make his body insensitive toward pain by ki. Though he had never seen a hospital from inside, he was now quite certain that he definitely had not missed out on anything.

Cold gray flooring, limp white curtains, a single TV attached opposite to the two beds which looked somewhat lost on the otherwise empty wall, and strange machines buzzing behind the beds. The room was so sterile and uninviting that Ranma wondered how the person who chose the establishment could have possibly believed someone would feel at home here. He himself would not be able to bear laying in this bed for even a single hour, and not just because he was used to being on the move all day.

However, his attention was drawn by the person sitting upright in her bed, awake. Akane had been patched up, and looked a lot better than the day she had arrived here. The awful cuts in her shoulders were hidden under clean bandages. Although not visible because of the blanket right now, he knew from his previous visits that almost her whole chest was wrapped as well. With the solid cast, which helped the fractured bone in her left arm to heal properly, she still looked worse then she actually was. The doctors said that she was even almost ready to go home, but they wanted to keep her under observation for few more days, since some of the bandannas barely had missed the wrist's and the neck's main arteries.

Ranma's gaze wandered back up to Akane's head and stopped by the sight of the bandage around it. A wave of guilt and sadness washed over him. Not only had one bandanna sliced one side of her head, but its razor edge had also cut through some of her hair, forcing her to but it and wear it short now. Ranma did not know why, but that fact seemed to upset Akane a great deal. Everyone would be upset, granted, but Akane had not lost a single chance to make a complaint about her looks. She had been rather depressed every time she had seen herself in a mirror. Apparently, having long hair had meant something to her, something that went deeper than worrying about how she looked. Ranma had not dared to ask for the reasons, though. To him it felt like that question would invade her privacy. If Akane did not want to tell him by herself, he decided that he would not push her.

Suddenly Ranma noted Akane's expression and he wondered how he'd managed to miss it. She was smiling. Despite the fact that she lay injured in a white hospital room, in a sterile bed away from her family and home, she was smiling. It was not one of those fake smiles she had given the doctors and nurses every time they asked her if she was alright countless times, but an honest one. An honest and real smile.

His own smile, caused by Akane's apparent good mood, however, vanished in instant along with the urge of tapping at the window and making his presence known, as he realized at whom she was smiling. It was not him. Actually, she was not even aware of him, crouching outside on the windowsill. She was smiling at someone else.

Without bothering to worry about the six meters that separated him from the ground, Ranma abruptly turned around and jumped down. He gritted his teeth and cursed inwardly, not only because of the pain that jolted through his legs. In fact, he barely felt the pain. His mind was too occupied with banishing the image of Akane smiling at Ryoga from his thoughts. The pain in his legs was almost welcome.

Ranma did not know the reason why Akane was acting that friendly to Ryoga, like she had yesterday, and he did not care anymore either. If she was happy with that bastard, then why should he even bother visiting her everyday? It was not like he needed to, she seemed to have a good company most of the time any way.

Ranma jumped onto the first fence that came into view and headed toward the Tendo Dojo, fuming as he went. As he rounded a corner, his expression suddenly grew sad. His previous thoughts somehow sounded wrong to him, somehow. Akane's unexplainable behavior had occupied him for more than one day now. As much as he hated to admit it, he assumed that meant that he did care after all.

Suddenly Ranma's danger sense interrupted his internal self-discovery and saved him from the foot that would have ironed him if he had not sidestepped it. He looked up and saw a girl who had jumped onto his fence bouncing away over the rooftops with a maniacal laugh. That laugh haunted him instantly. It caused shivers to run down his spine and he shuddered for a moment. She disappeared as fast as she had appeared, leaving behind Ranma, who was still mildly confused over her strange outfit and the twirling ribbon. He tried to stop wondering about her, then he heard strange sounds from nearby.

He turned his head to the other side in order to see from what the girl had fled and found three sobbing girls, wrapped in bandages. They all looked pretty beaten up.

The first unwrapped the bandages from around her head and bubbled out: "Wh-what do w-we do now?"

Ranma raised his eyebrows in surprise. He recognized the girl as a classmate. Or rather he believed seeing her in class before. Grateful for anything that might distract him from his thoughts about Akane, he listened on.

"I don't know", the second figure responded with an equally quivering voice. "She is too good, we can't beat her. We need help."

"But if the three of us weren't able to lay a single finger on her", the first girl wailed, "then who could possibly defeat her alone? No one can, not even if she fights fair."

"Yes, someone can. We could ask Akane for help", the third piped up.

By the mention of Akane's name, Ranma frowned. Apparently these three girls planned on asking Akane for a favor, but did not even know about the state she currently was in. It seemed that Yuka, Sayuri and the other two boys were still concealing the latest gossip concerning Akane from their classmates.

The first girl frowned on her own. "Do you think she could-"

"Of course she can! Haven't you seen her fighting against all these boys in the mornings?"

"Of course I have, I mean, who hasn't? But there is still a little problem. Does either of you know where she is? She has not been to school for several days now."

"Do you think she is ill? If so, I hope she will recover in time for the tournament next week..."

"I guess the easiest way to find out is to pay her a visit."

"Yes, let's go. If she can't compete, we are done for."

Ranma watched the three girls nod in unison and began to collect all the various gymnastic tools scattered around them and stuff them in their bags. He cast a short glance back to the white building, from where he had just come from. Would it not be rather cruel to let them wander all the way to the Tendo Dojo after he had overheard their conversation, only to let them discover that she was not even at home right now? He inwardly shook his head no and cleared his throat.

"Akane's not home right now."

If the statement hadn't reminded him of his previous worries, Ranma probably would have laughed at the reactions such a simple sentence coming from him could cause.

The girls jumped at the sound of his voice, then turned to see who had spoken. The moment they spotted him crouching on the fence, however, their confusion was replaced by something that best could be described as a mix of slight panic and total bafflement, leaving them unable to respond. The first dropped the clubs she was holding, the second dropped the bag with the other tools and the third dropped her jaw. To put it simply, they all looked like they had seen a ghost or some sort of magica-

Ranma decided to rather not finish that exact thought and waited for his words to sink in. At least, it would not last as long as if they were strangers. It was not the first time these girls had seen him.

"W-wha...what did you say?", one of the girls finally managed to ask.

"I said, Akane's not at home right now", Ranma repeated calmly.

The girl gulped but still found her voice for another question, despite the discouraging fact that her two friends pushed her forward a bit, using her as living shield so as not to be forced to talk to the weird boy themselves. "A-and where is she th-then?"

"She's at the hospital", Ranma said bleakly, "She got...hurt, last Monday before school started." By the dismayed looks he recieved, he quickly added: "It's nothing that bad, she's not dying or anything."

If it was because of the comforting message or just the realization that talking to Ranma was not that different from talking to any other normal person, Ranma could not tell, but some of the girls' stiffness vanished.

"She's what?", another girl shouted from behind her friend's back. "Oh my god, we have to go see her and see if she is all right."

"Yeah, she's our only hope. Maybe it is not that bad and she still can help us next week."

With whatever these girls wanted Akane to help them with, and it sounded suspiciously to Ranma like a fight, Ranma was convinced that she would not recover by next week, let alone supporting her classmates in their battle. But since no one asked for his opinion, he decided to let them find this out by themselves and kept quiet. Having nothing more to say, Ranma rose and continued his way to the Tendo Dojo. Just as the three girls quickly gathered their remaining tools and attempted to head toward the hospital, one of them turned back around. Still a little bit nervous, she bowed to him and whispered.

"Uhm...thank you."

Then she left.

Ranma exhaled deeply, relaxed his muscles and released the energy he'd built up in his abdomen. He then dropped to the wooden floor in a less controlled and graceful fashion and crossed his arms over his chest in frustration. Flowing through a kata had always been a stable method of clearing his mind and giving him a break from thinking. Especially when he altered the forms while practicing, removing old or useless movements, and replacing them with more effective combinations. It normally required full concentration, which he was glad for, as it allowed him to stop agonizing over Akane actions towards Ryoga. He knew that he technically was not allowed to change anything about the katas, since he was not yet a master of the school, but as long as Genma did not notice, there was not really anything he could do against it.

After refining five of his older katas and creating three entirely new ones, he still had not managed to banish the image of Akane smiling at Ryoga from his thoughts. Maybe he was using the wrong method of trying to distract himself after all. Imaging Ryoga opposite to him, revising his punches and kicks proved to be pretty easy to him.

Suddenly, he felt the familiar vibration of the ground caused by footsteps. Again grateful for any distraction, he turned his head toward the door, waiting for whomever was outside to enter. Seconds later, the door slid open to reveal the middle-aged Tendo daughter, Nabiki.

She looked down at Ranma with an expression Ranma could not quite classify. In general he was not sure how to act around her. It seemed that she always wore an amused smirk on her face every time she saw him. She, unlike most people, seemed to actually be indifferent toward him, as if his condition had not even fazed her upon their first encounter- which had, if he recalled correctly, not exactly been the case. He had no real practice in contact with others, but especially Nabiki's cool behavior was something Ranma had a hard time dealing with, even harder than dealing with any other person apart from his father. He did not know of any of her intentions or how she viewed him, aside from 'small'. Her face certainly revealed nothing that he could understand as friendly or hateful. She definitely did not see him like any normal boy, that was certain, but then again, hardly anyone did. He knew that she had a relationship with Kuno, but figured it was limited to some kind of business since Ranma had not yet heard Kuno refer to Nabiki as 'fair maiden' or any other sickening names he was constantly calling Akane, nor did he appear to chase after her like he chased after her younger sister. Also, Ranma knew that Nabiki was aware of his absence at school for the last few days, of course, but for some unknown reason she had not spoken a single word about it, either toward him or to her older sister. Apparently she did not really care what he was doing as long as she was not involved.

Again he could make out an amused glint in her eye as she opened her mouth. It felt like she was inwardly laughing at him. "I suspect you don't want to to visit Akane this evening either, hiding in the dojo for hours like you have been."

Ranma growled at her. It was not his fault that Ryoga seemed unable to leave Akane's side. "I ain't hiding, it's called training."

Her mocking, yet at the same time innocent smile grew imperceptibly as she entered the dojo and stepped closer to him. "Easy there, Saotome, it was just a joke. I only asked because Kasumi wanted to know."

Ranma strained his head to look into her face but did not bother to stand up and take a step back. He hated it when people did that, stepping close to him and forcing him to look straight up or move in order to lead a for him comfortable conversation. He was not quite sure if all of them did it by accident, right now however, it was obvious that Nabiki did not do so by accident.

She, on her part, sighed inwardly. She had still not figured out a way to make money out of the little boy and since Ranma was unable to carry any coins or notes with him, charging was not an option either. So as much as he hated to, this time she had to give him information for free.

"Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that Dr. Tofu called a few minutes ago. He asked me to tell you to come over."

In an instant, the shrimp was on his feet by the mention of Doctor Tofu's name. "Did he say anything else?"

A little bit taken aback by this sudden display of enthusiasm, Nabiki responded, "I think he said something about another guy named Kohl or something..." Nabiki had been keenly aware that something was bothering the little boy ever since her sister got injured, but seeing all his worries forgotten by hearing such a simple message was rather odd.

With a last "thanks" over his shoulder, Ranma already had hopped out of the dojo and over the wall surrounding the property.

Nabiki rolled her eyes and went back into the house. She had the feeling that Ranma was not coming with them to the hospital today either.

Just as Tofu was about to relax and take a sip of his tea, he heard the rumbling of the thunder from outside, immediately followed by the pattering of rain. He slowly got up and walked into the kitchen in order to close the window. Just before the window fell shut, however, a red blur hopped through the narrow gap just in time and startled the young doctor. After a few seconds of adjusting his glasses, Tofu recognized the little girl standing on the counter. "Oh, it's you Ranma. So obviously Nabiki conveyed the message."

It was not a question, rather a statement, but Ranma answered anyway while shaking the water out of her red hair, "Yeah, she did." Without losing another second, she instantly went for the most important question, "So what about Mr. Kohl? Did he find a cure?"

Tofu had not really expected Ranma to show up until tomorrow, not after Nabiki informed him that they had planned on visiting Akane this evening. He was a little bit disappointed that Ranma was seemed more interested in his own well-being than in that of his friend, but Tofu kept his disappointment hidden quite well. "That is correct, but I am sorry to say that it is sort of a temporary one..."

Ranma's shoulders slumped then she looked up again. "What do you mean by 'sort of' temporary? So, it is a cure but not for forever, or what?"

"Technically, that's probably right." Noticing the little girl's shivering, Tofu remembered that she was still drenched by cold rain water. "I suggest we warm you up again first, before discussing this matter."

"Aw, that's no bother, really", the redhead replied impatiently, wanting to waste no time at all in getting any news on a cure for her size problem.

"I may be a mere chiropractor, but even I can assure that you will catch a cold sooner or later if you stay wet like this."

The man's stern voice brooked little dissent. Ranma grumbled then, but, feeling the shivers transform into heavy shakes, she finally gave in. With chattering teeth, she said, "U-ok, a little bit h-hot water would not hurt, I g-g-guess."

Tofu chuckled and turned around to fetch another cup of hot water. "You can wait in the treatment room while the kettle heats up. I have stored the package Mr. Kǔèl sent to us in there", he casually said while he refilled the kettle.

Ranma nodded, eager to get her hands on the package and bounced toward the mentioned room. He had only a few minutes to scan the room for the prospective cure, though, before Tofu followed with two steaming mugs, one slightly larger than the other.

"I'm sorry, I could not find any dry spare clothes for you in my closet..." Ranma rolled her eyes at the lame joke "...but I brought you this instead", the doctor almost chuckled and waved with a towel. To the doctor, it was merely a hand towel. To Ranma it was rather large.

As he placed the larger cup next to Ranma, she jumped on its edge and bathed in the warmth rising from the liquid for a few seconds. Only now she felt how freezing the rainwater had really been. "Uhh doc, mind if I..."

"Go ahead and take a dip. That's why I brought the bigger cup", Tofu invited and finally took the eagerly awaited sip of his tea.

Ranma fumbled at the wooden togs on her shirt at first, then decided against taking off her clothes since the rain had already soaked them completely, and carefully slid into the cup. Ranma felt the change occur as the water gently wrapped itself around him like a warm blanket, chasing the cold out of his frozen limbs. He sighed silently and leaned back with closed eyes, for a moment forgetting the purpose of his visit and enjoying the pleasant embrace.

Seconds later, however the scratching sound of a drawer being pulled open caught his attention again. Through the mist rising from his makeshift bath, he could see Dr. Tofu turning back around to face him, carrying a small package and a letter in his hand. Ranma's mood lifted in instant at that sight and he almost spilled his jury-rigged bath barrel as he attempted to jump out of it. The desire of regaining his old body, even if only for a few minutes, was substantially greater than the desire to enjoy the heat of the water for one more second. Before coming close to the package, though, he felt himself lifted by the back of his shirt and placed on the towel Tofu had brought earlier. "I suggest you first dry yourself off while I explain to you why Mr. Kǔèl actually sent you this. Technically, this is not a cure for your condition."

Ranma's confidence faltered. "But you said it would-"

"Restore your previous height, yes", Tofu quickly interjected, "But only under certain circumstances Circumstances which you are not able to meet right now."

"Man, that's downright stupid. Why did he sent me something I can't even use?", Ranma groused, causing the other man to shake his head silently. Was this boy ever listening?

"Ranma, you are not listening carefully enough. I said _right now_. You must understand that dealing with magic is far more complicated than dealing with some disease. Normally, it can not be cured by simply taking pills or medicaments and the possibility that something can go wrong in case of negligent handling is dangerously high. Look at yourself, you are the best example for it. The orange powder was originally not supposed to affect you like that, was it? Personally I would prefer to keep the risk of triggering any unwanted side effects, which might be hard or even impossible to reverse again once they are discovered, to a minimum. So it is very important to know what the requirements are for this _cure_ to work properly. Especially for you. All I ask for is you to pay close attention to what I am going to tell you about it."

First, Ranma opened his mouth in defense, but finding nothing to object to, he hmpfed and said: "You are the doc, Doc," before closing it again. He finally dragged the over-sized towel over his shoulders and began rubbing his hair dry, while waiting for Tofu to start with his elucidations. Even if Tofu promised him that he would regain his regular size eventually, he still had a hard time hiding his disappointment.

Satisfied that he had captured the little boys attention at last, Tofu took another sip before clearing his throat. "First of all I will explain to you the actual effect of these pills", he said as he pulled a little bottle filled with small white pellets out of the package, " and the reason for Mr. Kǔèl to sent you this, even if it is only temporary." At the end of the sentence his voice became sharp, causing the little boy to swallow the groan along with the words of complaint which had built up in his throat. Tofu could see Ranma's disinterest written on his face. It was obvious that his main concern lay in getting cured as fast as possible and that Ranma didn't care to be bored by mere facts. Even if they were important.

"The ones who have high-grade knowledge of magic -such as Mr. Kǔèl- are aware that there are more types of magic than natural and produced magic. I myself did not know that until just recently, I am only trying to sum up what I can gather from the letter. Any way, Mr. Kǔèl pointed out the importance of knowing which type of magic the shrinking spell belongs to in order to produce a flawless cure. Obviously, it can not belong to the same group as the weakening spell or it would have been removed with its counter spell you two found a few weeks ago as well. Mr. Kǔèl already suspects he knows which type of magic it is. He wants to be sure, though, before he possibly investigates further on the wrong basis."

Tofu paused to take another gulp and muse over what he was going to say next. The explanation of what the pills did in general had been difficult to comprehend, the way the Chinese man had described it. He himself had had a hard time understanding the basic principle, which actually was not that complicated, but had been ponderously depicted in the letter.

"So logically, the pill will only show its effects if your condition belongs to the type of magic Mr. Kǔèl believes it to be. Otherwise, nothing will happen. Now to what actually will happen if he is right. According to the letter, they are some kind of conductors for a magical condition, or rather state, between two people. In other words, you can copy one person's magical status and transfer it to another..."

Ranma was about to interject yet again, but Tofu again prevented him by simply raising his hand, motioning the little boy to be quiet and let him finish his sentence.

"...So if the other person has a negative magical status in all ways, then this status would be transferred to you, meaning you would receive a negative status as well. It only works with unnatural magic, though, your gender-curse would unfortunately still be present."

It was if Ranma's mood was like a boat on the stormy sea, the placebo effect of the constant up and downs almost giving him a nauseous feeling. It didn't help that Ranma could barely follow the doctor's words. He grinned up to the taller man and said, "And with an, uh.. a negative magic status I would be normal sized again, wouldn't I?" As Tofu gave a nod, Ranma's grin only widened.

The doctor returned the little boy's infectious smile with one of his own before continuing, "So, now to the terms under which it works. As mentioned before, two individuals are needed. They both should be at full physical health and their age difference should not exceed 6 months. The pills must not be consumed under the influence of alcohol or any other mind numbing intoxicant, as well as not in a state of pregnancy or during menstruation. In a period not to exceed one minute, each individual has to swallow one pill. their distance should not be greater than 3 meters, also no obstacles should be allowed to prevent them from making bodily contact. The effect occurs almost instantly. The duration of effect is unstable and hard to predict. Mr. Kǔèl estimated from at least one day to two weeks at most. The effect wears off by itself and without any further..."

Completely slipped into his professional manner of speaking that he normally used in dealing with patients, Tofu almost missed Ranma's puzzled expression. Now that he had finally stopped talking, all what Ranma managed to say was, "Uh... what does menstruation mean, doc?"

Tofu could barely keep himself from spluttering the tea in his mouth over the table or the shrimp. "That... does not really concern you very much, Ranma" He coughed between almost contained laughter at the concept of it all. Such a question coming from someone like Ranma, who had been a sixteen year-old girl only moments before, was utterly ironic.

"Uh, okay...", Ranma drawled. Failing to find the source of the doctors amusement, he quickly brought the subject back to the important things. "So that means I must ask someone my age to agree taking one of these pills?"

"Simply said, yes", Dr. Tofu agreed half-heartedly.

"Great, I'm heading for the hospital then" the little boy stated cheerfully. He shrugged the towel off his shoulders and swiftly jumped to his feet. "Thanks for the hot water an' all..."

Before Tofu could react, Ranma had already hopped out of the room and disappeared around a corner.

"Ranma, wait, you can't-" Whatever Tofu was about to say, his sentence was cut short by the thud of the door hitting its frame. Despite his tiny body, doors seemed to be no serious problem for Ranma at all.

He sighed and considered his next actions. After all, Akane was far from being considered at full health, so the pills would prove to be dangerous if she were to take them right now. Apparently, Ranma had totally forgotten about this little fact.

With one last longing glance toward his half finished cup of tea, he stood up as well and looked for his waterproof jacket. Today his tea had to wait.

Author...: I have no idea how Japanese or American hospitals look like. They look like this in Germany, so I based them on my memories (three days hell).

And I needn't to justify myself about the delay. You all know my opinion.

Last line for my beta reader (FrictionX42): Great work. I really really love how you alerted it.


End file.
